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EARLY HISTORY 



WEST AND NORTH-WEST 



EMBRAClNa 



REMINISCENCES AND INCIDENTS OF SETTLEMENT AND 

GROWTH, AND SKETCHES OF THE MATERIAL 

AND RELIGIOUS PROGRESS 



STATES OF OHIO, INDIANA, ILLINOIS, AND MISSOURI, 



ESPECIAL REFERENCE TO THE HISTORY OF METHODISM. 






REV. S:vR. BEGGS. 



CINCINNATI: 

PRINTED AT THE METHODIST BOOK CONCERN. 
1868. 



.•3 

34^ 



40348 

Entered, according to Act of Congress, in the year 1868, by 
S. R. BEGGS, 

In the Clerk's Office of the District Court of the United States for 
the Southern District of Ohio. 



CONTENTS 



-o- 



CHAPTER I. Page. 

Autobiographical — ^Ancestry — Life in Southern Indiana — Con- 
version 9 

CHAPTER II. 

Early Methodism in Indiana — Notable Preachers — Confer- 
ences — Districts and Circuits 17 

CHAPTER in. 
Compilations from Smith's "Indiana Miscellany" 31 

CHAPTER IV. 

The Same continued — The Pious Wife and Impenitent Hus- 
band — Remarkable Conversion 44 

CHAPTER V. 

Received into Missouri Conference — Remarkable Experiences 
in the Primitive Itinerancy 61 

CHAPTER VI. 

Introduction to the Illinois Work — Minutes of the First Con- 
ference 69 

CHAPTER VII. 

Pioneer Experiences — Home Again — Pleasant Conference Occa- 
sions 67 

CHAPTER VIII. 

Quakers and Infidels at a Methodist Meeting — A Primitive 
Baptism 75 



4 CONTENTS. 

CHAPTER IX. Page. 

Marriage — Rough Experiences of a Young Bride — Painful and 

Perilous Journey ings 81 

CHAPTER X 

Mission Work in Chicago, 1831-32 — Terrors of an Indian 

Raid— A Home-Made Fort 94 

CHAPTER XI. 

Privations in Chicago — Division of Illinois Conference — Inci- 
dents of Labor 103 

CHAPTER XII. 

A Clear Conversion — Statistics of Desplaines Mission — Rock 

River Conference formed 114 

CHAPTER XIII. 
History of Peoria — A Curious Church-Building Enterprise... 122 

CHAPTER XIV. 

Sketch of Rev. Jesse Walker — Interesting Narrative from his 

own Manuscript 131 

CHAPTER XV. 

Statistics of Early Methodism in the Fox River Region — Au- 
rora and Ottowa 143 

CHAPTER XVI. 

Early Methodism in Middle Illinois — Sangamon County — First 
Settlement of Peoria 151 

CHAPTER XVII. 

Miscellaneous Statistics — The Plainfield Work — How Roberts 
became Bishop 161 

CHAPTER XVIII. 

Biographical Episode — The Author's Work and Experiences 
on the Christian Commission, in 1864 169 



CONTENTS. O 

CHAPTER XIX. Page. 

Chicago Methodism — Great Religious Struggle and Victory.... 175 

CHAPTER XX. 

The First Chicago Churches — Caual-Street, Clark-Street, and 
Indiana-Street 41. 182 

CHAPTER XXI. 

The Chicago Indian Massacre of 1812 — Mrs. Kinzie's Narrative 191 

CHAPTER XXII. 
Mrs. Kinzie's Narrative continued 200 

CHAPTER XXIII. 

The Author's Observations on the Indian Character — Causes 

of the Sauk War 213 

CHAPTER XXIV. 

Indian Anecdotes — How Jesse "Walker dealt with them 221 

CHAPTER XXV. 

Chicago — Origin of Name — Incidents of Early Settlement — 
First Methodist Preaching 227 

CHAPTER XXVI. 

Our Publishing Interests — The Methodist Book Concerns in 
New York and Cincinnati 236 

CHAPTER XXVII. 
First Baptist Church in Plainfield — Methodism in Plainfield.. 241 

CHAPTER XXVIII. 
A Sketch of Methodism in Lockport 249 

CHAPTER XXIX. 

History of the Illinois and Michigan Canal — A Great Under- 
taking under Great Difficulties 260 



b CONTENTS. 

CHAPTER XXX. Page. 

A Sketch of the Conversion and Ministry of Rev. John Hill — 

Extraordinary Effects of his Preaching 268 

CHAPTER XXXI. 

Anecdotes of Bishops Roberts %d Soule — Singular Incident — 
Sketches of Western Methodism 274 

CHAPTER XXXII. 

Western Methodism — James B. Finley — Nolley — Bangs — 
M'Kendree 293 

CHAPTER XXXIII. 
Administration of Discipline — Rev. John Sinclair 301 

CHAPTER XXXIV. 
First Session of Rock River Conference 311 

CHAPTER XXXV. 

The Prairie State — Its Beauty, Resources, Population, and 
Destiny 317 

CHAPTER XXXVI. 

St. Louis in the Olden Time — Its First Newspaper — Progress 
of Methodism in Illinois 321 



INTRODWCTION. 



BY T. M. EDDY, D. D. 



Years ago, when the writer first came to the North-West, 
among his earliest and most hearty greetings was one from 
Stephen R. Beggs. We found so pleasant a spirit, so happy a 
disposition, so cheerful a retrospect that we sought further 
acquaintance. His experience ran back into pioneer days, 
swept along the rough places, and wound among the bridle- 
paths of frontier settlements. So interesting were his reminis- 
cences that, at our request, he wrote a portion of them, which 
appeared in successive numbers of the North-Western Christian 
Advocate. Artless, natural, just, they attracted favorable atten- 
tion, and called out an expression favorable to publication in a 
more extended and permanent form. 

The thought of a hook came to him as an amazement. He, 
Stephen R. Beggs, become the author of a duodecimo volume I 
He had never thought of entering into history, much less writ- 
ing it. When he made his way from one appointment to another 
by blazed trees, and stood up on a puncheon floor and preached 
in the dim glare of one or two tallow candles, kept alight by the 
snuffing of backwoods fingers, he would have laughed outright 
at the prediction that he should ever make a book to be read by 
the light streaming into richly carpeted parlors from patent 
gas-burners. 

Yet why not? These early Methodist pioneers have led an 
eventful life, and its record is almost as marvelous as any thing 



8 INTRODUCTION. 

in the annals of chivalry, and possesses the glitter of romance 
They have a knowledge of persons, places, and events essential 
to a perfect history of our Church in the West, and, unless writ- 
ten, it dies with them. Written, and not printed, it will be of no 
service to the future historian. A few years ago autobiographic 
literature was overdone, and "^t the poorest, stalest, and least 
enduring had its value, and from such ephemeral annals will 
history be enriched. 

The author was at the laying of foundations in the North- 
West, both political and ecclesiastical. He was in Chicago ere 
it was Chicago. He rocked the cradle of young Methodism 
here, but, musical as he is, would never sing to it a lullaby. He 
has told the story as he knew it, and as other careful observers 
have recited it He was here among the Indian troubles when 
Black Hawk was devastating the country, and that, too, is told. 
He has labored in Ohio, Indiana, Illinois, and Missouri when 
there was more hard work than pecuniary compensation. 

With his own experience he has connected anecdotes, sketches, 
stray waifs of biography, and incidents in danger of being lost. 

He sends it forth, especially commending it to his old friends, 
the associates, lay and cleric, of earlier days. There are many 
yet living, for of tough stock and hardy fiber were those pioneer 
folks. They will read, and "remember the days of former times." 
We commend it to younger readers. It is well to see, amid our 
present, what was the character of our near past. Those days 
can never come again; changes of population and society make 
them impossible. The scream of the locomotive has scared the 
saddle-bags out of sight, and almost out of existence. New 
duties, new conflicts, new responsibilities are upon us. But let 
us keep in sympathy with the heroic aggressions, the chivalrous 
spirit, the daring and doing which made "the paths straight" for 
our present. For this there is nothing like the facts as they were, 
and some of them the author has told. 

Office North-Westeen Christian Advocate, 1 
Chicago, April 25, 1868. j 



PAGES 



^mk i^tors of % »st aiib lortJ-Mesi 



CHAPTER I. 



My great-grandfathers were born, tlie one, James 
Beggs, in Ireland ; the other, Charles Barns, in 
America, of English extraction. One of my great- 
grandmothers was born in Ireland, the other in En- 
gland; the maiden name of one being Hardy, of 
the other, M'Dow. My grandfather, Thomas Beggs, 
was a native of New Jersey, where he married 
Sarah Barnes, and afterward emigrated to Virginia. 
He lived in Eockingham county, till the breaking 
out of the Revolutionary War. He joined the pa- 
triot army, and became an officer in the commissary 
department, and died of camp fever in 1779 or 1780. 
He had four sons and one daughter. His three oldest 
sons had large families — that of John consisting of 
one son, James, and eight daughters. James had 
four sons — Charles, John, Stephen, and Thomas. 
John married Hannah Barnes; James married Mary 
Custer; and Charles married Dorothy Trumbow. 



10 EARLY HISTORY OF THE 

All settled at an early day in Clark county, Indiana, 
John Beggs was Judge of the Court; James was 
State Senator for nine years, joining the Methodist 
Episcopal Church in 1791; Charles was a member 
of the Legislature for several years, and served as 
Captain of a light-horse company in the Indian War, 
participating in the battle of Tippecanoe. He moved 
to Illinois in 1829. He still lives, at the advanced 
age of ninety-two ; and during the Rebellion was as 
bitter against the " Tories," as he termed the rebels, 
as his family had been in 76. My father and moth- 
er, James Beggs and Mary Custer, were members 
of the Methodist Church from 1791 to the day of 
their death, a period of three-fourths of a century ; 
and if I am an ultra Methodist, I came honestly 
by it. 

I was born in Rockingham county, Virginia, March 
30, 1801. When I was four years old, my father 
moved West, stopping about two years in Kentucky ; 
and then settling in Clark county, Indiana, on the 
Ohio River, about seventeen miles above the falls at 
Louisville, where my father passed the rest of his 
life. My father had scarcely cleared off a small 
piece of ground — he had bought a heavily timbered 
farm of one hundred and sixty acres — and erected 
a log cabin, when the whole family, father, mother, 
and five children, myself excepted, were taken sick 
with chills and fever. In the absence of a physician, 
a brother Methodist administered the novel remedy, 
calomel; and we all soon became convalescent. 



WEST AND NORTH-WEST. 11 

Father, however, attempted work too soon, and one 
damp day took a cold, which resulted in an attack 
of rheumatism that kept him laid up for nine years, 
unable to do a day's work. This was a sore afflic- 
tion to us all, especially to mother, upon whom it 
imposed heavy "responsibilities. These misfortunes 
induced father to exchange his large farm for a 
smaller one, with some improvements. My elder 
brothers held the plow, and I drove or rode the 
team; and we thus managed to raise grain enough 
for the supply of the family and the stock through 
the first Winter. Subsequently, father was elected 
to the Legislature, finally serving as a Senator more 
than ten years, greatly to the comfort of his family. 
He was a great stickler for grammar, receiving the 
name of '' Mr. Syntax," by which he was known 
for years. 

Among other deprivations consequent on the new- 
ness of the country, was that of shoes. I was seven 
years old before I ever rejoiced in the possession of 
a pair. Little did my parents or I myself see, in 
this pioneer life of the boy, God's hardening process, 
preparatory for the hardships of the uncultivated 
fields of his vineyard. 

During our youth we enjoyed all the manly out- 
door sports, such as hunting, wrestling, jumping, 
ball-playing, etc.; but swearing, lying, and dancing 
were eschewed and detested. As for dancing, I felt 
something as Daniel Webster expressed it, who said 
he never had sense enough to learn. It really 



12 EARLY HISTORY OF THE 

seemed such hard work, that I had a fellow-feeling 
with the heathen, who, seeing how hard people 
exerted themselves in that " amusement," wondered 
why they did not make their servants dance as well 
as do the rest of their drudgery. 

My father, though not a very large man, was 
very athletic. I had the reputation of being the 
strongest man in Clark county. John Strange, one 
day, saw me walking at a short distance; and stop- 
ping in amazement at my apparent strength, said 
that if I could only get my feet properly set, I could 
rock the earth. I was just six feet in hight, and 
weighed from one hundred and eighty-five to one 
hundred and ninety-nine pounds. I have passed a 
generally healthy life; and now, 1868, my health is 
good, my lungs sound, and I am free from dyspepsia, 
or other chronic ailment. 

What little schooling we got was in the "Winter, 
in a school-house, which it may be worth while to 
describe : built of round logs ; the window, a rude 
opening filled with white paper, greased with lard 
to admit the light; the benches made of ''slabs" 
split from logs, and so high that the smaller chil- 
dren's feet could not touch the ground, that being all 
the floor we had; one entire end of the structure 
being used for a fireplace, the chimney built of split 
sticks, plastered over with mortar. With the im- 
provement of the country, our advantages became 
greater. The old Dillworth spelling-book used to 
cost one dollar, equal to four dollars of our money. 



WEST AND NORTH-WEST. 13 

From early youtli I had a desire to become a 
preacher. This I manifested in conducting meetings 
in innocent play among the children, or alone in the 
deep forest, going through with the regular order 
of exercises. I learned to think that if a man could 
read, and write, and sing, and pray, he had about 
all the qualifications needed for the itinerant work. 
When I was about twelve years of age, the Indian 
troubles began in Scott and Clark counties. My 
fears I can vividly recall. I expected the savages 
would kill me; felt that I was not prepared to die, 
and would have made any sacrifice, could I have felt 
that I was not an accountable being. 

When the news came of the "Pigeon-Roost mas- 
sacre," nearly all the settlers north of us fled across 
the Ohio, leaving their effects behind. Returning, 
they built a fortification around my father's house, 
which was of stone. Here they remained for days, 
in constant expectation of the Indians. Several 
block-houses were built to the north of us, the occu- 
pants of which would flee to our fort on every fresh 
alarm. The '^Pigeon-Roost massacre," of which I 
spoke, occurred at a settlement of that name, formed 
in 1809, and which, confined to a square mile of land, 
was five or six miles distant from neighboring 
settlements. 

On the afternoon of the third of September, 1812, 
Jeremiah Payne and a man by the name of Kauff- 
mann, were surprised and kille^ by a party of Indi- 
ans while at work in the woods, about two miles 



14 EAKLY HISTORY OF THE 

from tlie settlement. The Indians then — Shawnees, 
ten or twelve in number — attacked the settlement 
about sunset, and murdered one man, five women, 
and sixteen children. The bodies of some of the 
victims were burned in the cabins where they were 
slaughtered. Mrs. John Biggs alone escaped with 
her three small children, reaching a settlement six 
miles distant near daylight. 

A number of the militia of Clark county proceeded 
to the scene of the massacre, where they found only 
the mangled and half-consumed bodies of the dead, 
and the ruins of the houses; and the remains were 
all buried in one grave. 

From a child I enjoyed the advantages of relig- 
ious education, and was taught at school, as well as 
at home, to read the Bible. I formed the habit of 
prayer very young, and continued it regularly till 
my conversion in the nineteenth year of my age. 
At that time I visited a camp meeting at Jacobs' 
camp-grounds, seven miles above Louisville, which 
began October 6th. On Sabbath afternoon, after a 
powerful sermon by Rev. James Ward, of the Ken- 
tucky Conference, I took my place at the altar, 
among seekers of religion. The deliverance, on 
which I had fixed my determination, did not come 
till sunset. I can never forget those first bright 
joys of pardoned sin, nor cease recalling, when I 
think of that blessed hour, the shouts of joy that 
arose like the " sounds of many waters," ** Glory to 
God in the highest!" multiplied, as they were, by 



• WEST AND NORTH-WEST. 15 

scores, till two hundred were converted. Among 
these seven of us were licensed to preach, the most 
of whom entered the itinerant work. 

Soon after my probation expired I was appointed 
assistant class-leader. It was a heavy cross to ad- 
dress in reproof and exhortation, as well as comfort, 
the old alike with the young ; yet I found, as I have 
ever found. His grace sufficient for me. I was soon 
afterward licensed to exhort, by Rev. Samuel Griaze. 
Blessed in these labors, I was speedily licensed to 
preach. I had long felt this necessity laid upon 
me, though I shrank from the great duty; but the 
resolution once formed, and the step taken, I felt 
wonderfully blest. This occurred at the local con- 
ference at a quarterly camp meeting near Salem, 
Indiana. 

I resolved that after two years' schooling, I would 
offer myself to the Annual Conference as a pro- 
bationer. Rev. James Armstrong, who succeeded 
Rev. 0. Ruter — under whose untiring labors six 
hundred had been added to the Church on the cir- 
cuit — insisted that I should at once receive a recom- 
mendation to the next Annual Conference, which was 
to be held at St. Louis that Fall. He held that I 
could better receive my education and graduate in 
the " Brush College," as most of our preachers had 
done. After much anxious and prayerful reflection, 
I finally said: "Here am I." My recommendation 
was presented, and I was received; and glad am I 
to this day that I began when I did and as I did. 



16 EARLY HISTORY OF THE 

This oue lesson I learned : to look to the Lord, 
whence cometh our help. I know that I have thus 
formed a habit of trust stronger than I should have 
done, had I waited to receive a liberal education. 
Yet I realize what a blessing and what a power a 
sanctified education is. 

The great revival above mentioned was attended 
with many extraordinary physical manifestations, 
in which both the converted and the unconverted 
were alike exercised. Some laughed so excessively 
and so long that it seemed as though they would 
literally '* die laughing." Bending backward as far 
as they could, they would laugh at the top of their 
voice, then bending forward almost to the ground, 
they would continue till they well-nigh lost breath, 
then straightening up and catching breath, they 
would renew their convulsive laughter, repeating the 
same phenomena for an hour or more, till completely 
exhausted they would fall down in a swoon. The 
"jerks" were also very common in the prayer meet- 
ings, particularly among the women. Sometimes 
three or four were affected at once, being thrown 
flat on the floor, and when forced to their feet by a 
couple of strong men, "jerked" irresistibly back 
and forth. Often have I seen a frail woman surpass 
the utmost strength of two strong men. 

Elder Hamilton was preaching on one occasion 
when several became affected in this way. It pre- 
vented his going on with his discourse, as he thought 
it all assumed, or at least a thing which could be 



WEST AND NORTH-WEST. 17 

controlled. That very night, however, after retiring, 
he was himself seized with the '^ jerks." On finding 
them to be a reality, he fervently prayed the good 
Lord to deliver him from what he considered an 
affliction, promising that if similar occurrences took 
place again at his meetings, he would make the best 
of it. They were so prevalent in places, in these 
early days, that Peter Cartwright said that he had 
heard of the dogs and hogs having them; a fact to 
which brother John Stewart bears the testimony of 
personal observation. 

Brother Cartwright tells of one man whose neck 
was actually broken while thus exercised. The 
falling "exercise" was also very common; those 
afiected by it lying apparently lifeless for hours. 
The subjects returned to consciousness with abound, 
and generally with a shout of '' Glory to God /" 
President Edwards, for his personal satisfaction, ex- 
amined carefully into these phenomena, and gave it 
as his deliberate conviction, that these "foxfire" and 
" wildfire " conversions, as they were termed, were 
often among the most powerful and lasting that he 
had ever witnessed. 

2 



18 EARLY HISTORY OF THE 



CHAPTER II. 

As early as 1802 Methodists ventured within the 
present limits of Indiana, among its few scattered 
settlers. The first was Nathan Eobertson, who 
moved from Kentucky to Charlestown, Clark county, 
in 1779. Three years later a small class was organ- 
ized near Charlestown. This class built the first 
chapel in the State, on David Koland's land. This 
was afterward burned down, and another erected a 
mile farther north, called Gassaway, or Salem meet- 
ing-house. It was made of hewed logs, and still 
stands in a good state of preservation, though not 
used for worship. In the old church-yard in which 
it stands, lie the remains of my revered father and 
mother, of two brothers and a sister, all members 
of the Methodist Church. Within the walls of this 
church I was faithfully warned to flee from the 
wrath to come, and pointed to the Lamb of Grod, 
who taketh away the sins of the world, by some of 
the best men the Church has ever produced. The 
class was very strong in faith and in numbers, em- 
bracing a hundred members at the close of Calvin 
Enter 's Conference year, 1820. 

Wm. Cravens made a practice of meeting the class 
at his appointments, where he would examine each 
member, asking them if they drank strong drink. 



WEST AND NORTH-WEST. 19 

All who confessed to doing so and who would not 
promise total abstinence, he would direct to sit on a 
separate bench. At the close of the class meeting 
he would have a prayer meeting in their behalf. 
If no reformation followed these efforts, he had them 
tried promptly and turned out of the Church. He 
was a very large man and of great strength. His 
sermons were original and powerful. His eccentric- 
ity was proverbial. In one of his sermons before 
election he said he would as soon vote for a horse- 
thief as a dram-drinker or whisky distiller. 

On one occasion, in calling for mourners, he set 
out three benches, one for seekers of religion, one 
for backsliders, and the other for hypocrites, and 
they all had occupants. On the hypocrite bench 
was a man who had two wives. Cravens was soon 
by his side, and said: ^'I understand that you have 
two wives; are you determined now to forsake this 
woman and go and live with your lawful wife?" 
The man replied *'no." ''Be off, then," said Cra- 
vens; ''you can't get religion here!" He could 
strike as hard in a few words as any man I ever 
heard. 

Once he was preaching at a camp meeting. 
Among the preachers on the platform were a slave- 
owner and a lawyer. Speaking of the qualifications 
of the ministry, he said he "would as soon hear a 
negro play a banjo, or a raccoon squeal, as to hear 
a negro-holder or a petty lawyer preach;" then 
turning abruptly to the two men he exclaimed, 



20 EARLY HISTORY OF THE 

"How dare you lay your bloody hands on this 
Sacred Book !" He termed all instruments of music 
introduced into churches wooden gods. Eev. Mr. 
Fillmore once preached where brother Abbot led 
the singing in a choir in which they had instru- 
mental music. After the service he asked brother 
Abbot how he liked the music, whose only reply 
was, '* Your wooden brother did very well to-day." 
A bass-viol being once introduced into a choir when 
Cartwright preached, he announced the hymn with 
the invitation, "We will fiddle to the Lord, my 
brethren." Brother A. E. Phelps told me the fol- 
lowing story of the manner in which Eev. J. Gruber 
once disposed of a choir difficulty: there being a 
division in the choir, he wished to have the whole 
matter turned over to him. When the choir began 
to sing he began to roar on a shell which he had 
procured. This, of course, put a stop to the sing- 
ing. On the choir starting again at his request, he 
began to blow again, exclaiming, " I can 't sing, 
but I am a roarer on this shell !" 

To Joseph Williams belongs the honor of being 
the first itinerant preacher appointed to a circuit in 
Indiana. In 1809 the Indiana district was formed, 
embracing the entire area of the territories of Indi- 
ana, Illinois, and Missouri. Samuel Parker was the 
first presiding elder. In this year Silver Creek cir- 
cuit was formed. It embraced all the settlements 
in the southern part of Indiana, reaching up the 
Ohio E-iver to Whitewater circuit. Josiah Crawford 



WEST AND NORTH-WEST. 21 

had charge of it; returning a membership of one 
hundred and eighty-eight. In 1810 Silver Creek was 
a part of Green River district, Wm. Burke presiding 
elder, and Sela Paine preacher in charge. This 
district embraced, besides Silver Creek, the following 
circuits: Green River, Barren, Wayne, Cumberland, 
Danville, Salt River, and Shelby. The Indiana dis- 
trict was composed of Illinois, Missouri, Maramack, 
Coldwater, Cape Girardeau, and Vincennes circuits, 
Samuel Parker presiding elder. At the close of this 
year, 1810, Silver Creek returned four hundred and 
forty-eight members. In 1811 Wm. Burke was 
presiding elder on Green River district, and Isaac 
Lindsey had charge of Silver Creek circuit. The 
number of members returned was 397. The total 
number returned from Indiana was 1,160. In 1812 
two additional circuits were formed in Indiana, 
Lawrenceburg and Patoka. Silver Creek was this 
year connected, under the charge of Wm. M'Mahon, 
with Salt River district, James Ward presiding elder. 
In 1815 the Western Conference was divided into 
the Ohio and Tennessee Conferences. The Indiana 
circuits were assigned to two different Conferen- 
ces; Whitewater and Lawrenceburg in the Miami 
district, and Silver Creek in Salt River district, 
being within the bounds of the Ohio Conference. 
The total membership in the State was 2,176 — all 
gathered in within five years. In 1814 Charles 
Harrison was appointed to Silver Creek, Jesse 
Walker presiding elder. The number of members 



22 EARLY HISTOHY OF THE 

reported in Indiana was 1,759. In 1815, 1,504 were 
returned, the decrease being due to the War. 
Shadrach Euark was preacher in charge on Silver 
Creek circuit, Charles Holliday presiding elder. In 
1816 Joseph Kinkaid went to Silver Creek. This 
year Blue Eiver was detached from Silver Creek 
circuit, under the charge of John Shrader. It ex- 
tended down the Ohio and out to the head waters 
of the Patoka. There were now six circuits in Indi- 
ana, with a membership of 1,877. In 1817 Joseph 
Pownal was sent to Silver Creek, and John Cord to 
Blue River, Samuel H. Thompson presiding elder. 

This year there were six circuits in Indiana, with 
a membership of 1,907. In 1818 John Cord was 
sent to Silver Creek. A new circuit. Little Pigeon, 
was established; seven in all, with nine preachers 
and 3,044 members. I have been thus particular 
about the introduction of Methodism into Indiana, 
of the districts of that Conference, and especially of 
Silver Creek circuit, because it was there that I 
passed so much of my early life and entered upon 
the work of the ministry. Brother Wm. C. Smith 
thinks that the first Indiana meeting-house was 
erected in 1808. 

It was in this year that the first circuit — White- 
water — was formed. I think the claim to precedence 
lies between the Meek's Church, as it was termed, 
and the Robertson meeting-house, three miles north 
of Charlestown, Clark county. There was also one 
built at an early day near my father's. The date 



WEST AND NORTH-WEST. 23 

I can not give. It was tlie first that I recollect 
attending. Thomas Allen and James Garner were 
the preachers. I told a playmate that I liked the 
former the best, because he did not swear so much 
as old brother Garner. That building was subse- 
quently burned, and afterward the old Salem meet- 
ing-house was erected one mile further north. 

Since the first rude log cabin meeting-house was 
erected in Indiana, the work of church-building has 
gone on, till the number reaches about 1,300; many 
of them magnificent buildings, costing from thirty to 
seventy thousand dollars. What has God wrought 
through this "pioneer" Methodist Episcopal Church ! 
Wm. C. Smith thinks the first camp meeting in In- 
diana was held in Wayne county. I think that 
about the same time we held one on the Robinson 
camp-ground, Clark county. 

Brother Smith, in his sketch of Miami district, 
says that T. Nelson and S. H. Thompson, who 
preached on Whitewater circuit in 1810, then went 
to Kentucky — Nollechuckie circuit — and neither of 
them ever returned to Indiana to labor. S. H. 
Thompson was on the Illinois district in 1817, and 
I recollect distinctly his sermon at our quarterly 
meeting at old Salem meeting-house, Clark county. 
His powerful sermon and his fresh, manly look, all 
left an ineffaceable impression on my mind. I 
thought him one of the handsomest men I had 
ever seen. He was so good a hand at soliciting aid 
for our Church charities, that he bore the name of 



24 EARLY HISTORY OF THE 

''beggar-general." His strong appeals were almost 
resistless. On one occasion lie closed his appeal by- 
telling the people to come forward and lay their 
offerings on the table. Among those who responded 
was a gentleman who put his hand deep into his 
pocket and took out a handful of silver to get some 
change. Thompson saw him, and, as if supposing 
that he intended to lay all upon the table, exclaimed 
at the top of his voice, " Thank God for one liberal 
soul!" By this time all eyes were fixed on the 
"liberal" gentleman, who could not help laying down 
the entire handful. But Thompson illustrated his 
precept in this respect by example. He generally- 
headed the contribution; and so generous was he in 
his offerings, that he not infrequently had to borrow 
money to get home with. Indeed, he was hardly an 
exception. The liberality of the Methodist preach- 
ers was remarkable; giving beyond their means, 
they yet realized that it was more blessed to give 
than to receive. 

In this connection, I may appropriately introduce 
some account of the early history of Methodism in 
Northern Indiana, with sketches of a few of the 
prominent preachers. Among the many whom I 
heard preach, were brothers A. Joslin, James Con- 
well, A. Wood, James Havens, John Morrow, J. 
Strange, A. Wiley, J. L. Thompson, Calvin Enter, 
James Armstrong, George Hester, and Richard Har- 
grave. Wiley was a superb preacher; beginning 
slowly, and deliberately, and cautiously, but surely 



WEST AND NORTH-WEST. 25 

making his way to the hearts of his congregation, 
till his deep feelings seemed to take charge of his 
tongue, and his whole soul would be poured out with 
his words. • His appeals, always affecting, were some- 
times overwhelming. 

James Havens, as the Hon. 0. H. Smith describes 
him, may be justly termed the Napoleon of Method- 
ism in Eastern Indiana. He was hard to handle, 
physically, as well as intellectually; his strength of 
muscle being equal to his mental powers. At one 
of the Connersville circuit camp meetings, I once 
saw him, just as Strange was beginning his Sabbath 
morning sermon, take hold of a ruffian who was 
making a disturbance at the altar. He threw him 
literally '' heels over head," giving him a tremendous 
fall, then holding him so fast as almost to strangle 
him; having fairly subdued him, he took the hum- 
bled rowdy to head-quarters for trial. Strange 
preached a most powerful sermon, resulting in the 
conversion of many souls. 0. H. Smith regards 
Strange as one of the most effective preachers he 
ever heard. He does not hesitate to say that Indi- 
ana owes him a special debt of gratitude for his 
efforts through a long, laborious life, to form her 
new society on the enduring basis of morality and 
education. 

A. Wood, D. D., and myself, were both young 

men when we became acquainted. He bid fair, at 

an early age, to become a useful man. He had a 

sound mind, a most felicitous elocution, and a zeal 

3 



26 EARLY HISTORY OF THE 

without bound. He preached always with all his 
power, frequently becoming so exhausted as to fall 
helpless into the arms, of those near him. He still 
enjoys the best of health in his green old age. 

The following sketches from his pen will give 
value to this book, written in reply to a request 
to furnish some recollections of the early Methodist 
societies in Laporte county, Indiana. He prefaces 
his personal sketches with some valuable statistics 
of the early Conferences: 

" Previous to the year A. D. 1832, all the settle- 
ments of Northern Indiana were visited by mission- 
aries from Michigan, which was then in what was 
called the 'North Ohio Conference/ 

^'Erastus Felton, in 1830, and L. B. Gurley, in 
1831, preached in Laporte county. But in 1832 
there was made an ' Indiana Conference,' and James 
Armstrong was appointed missionary. He moved 
to the county and settled on a farm near Door Vil- 
lage. James Armstrong was the evangelist of our 
Church in this county, influencing many Church 
members to move to it from older parts of the State; 
and remaining in the county as an enterprising 
missionary till his death, which occurred on the 
12th of September, 1834. 

"N. B. Griffith came to the county about the same 
time, but he settled in St. Joseph, where he also 
died in 1834. The first societies in both these coun- 
ties were organized by these men. It may be in 
place for me to give some pen-portraits of them. 



WEST AND NORTH-WEST. 27 

"Armstrong was of medium hight, and weight. 
His chin, lips, and nose sharp, eyes small, eyebrows 
heavy, forehead square and high, and hair thick set 
and dark. He was always neatly dressed in plain 
black. He had a good voice, with a free use of 
plain, English words of Saxon origin ; nothing of the 
Irish brogue, but much of the fire, which, as he felt 
himself, he failed not to impart to others who gave 
him audience, till the bond became so strong be- 
tween the speaker and hearer, that both were carried 
along with the force and beauty of the subject before 
them. He was what we called a ' topic preacher ;' 
and before a promiscuous congregation, his memory, 
his imagination, and tact enabled him to conduct a 
controversy with great ingenuity for success to any 
cause he espoused. As a man and a minister he 
attached personal friends, who liberally sustained his 
enterprises and boldly defended his measures. 

" Having been presiding elder over all the State of 
Indiana, from the Ohio to the lakes, he was a herald 
of the Gospel whom God owned and blessed, and his 
untiring industry and influence, devoted as they 
were entirely to the organizing of the Church in 
the then new settlements, place him on the page of 
our history as the leading evangelist. 

" In the order of time, the societies were formed : 
first, at Door Village; second, at Springfield; third, 
at Robinson's ; fourth, at Laporte ; fifth, in Michigan 
City. At all these there were societies, and stated 
worship, before the year 1837. 



28 EARLY HISTORY OF THE 

"The first meeting-house was at Door Village; the 
second at Laporte ; the third, Union Chapel; the 
fourth at Michigan City ; and from these there have 
branched off all the societies in the county. 

" N. B. Griffith had a ready mind, well adapted to 
organize religious societies in a new country. He 
was remarkably quick and correct in his knowledge 
of human nature — a discerner of human character 
on first acquaintance. Earnestly devoted to the one 
work of bringing men to Christ, his congregations 
were large and his labors successful. He died 
August 22, 1834. 

'^ It is difficult to give a true history of our Church 
as bounded by county lines, for these were not the 
lines of circuits or societies in the first mission. In 
1833 there was a missionary district, in which there 
was a Laporte mission. Elder Armstrong had 
charge of both district and mission. The former 
inclosed Ft. Wayne, Elkhart, St. Joseph, and Kala- 
mazoo, as well as Laporte. On this district were 
four young unmarried men ; namely, R. S. E^obinson, 
B. Phelps, J. T. Robe, and G. W. Beswick. As the 
elder lived in Laporte county, this was the head of 
the district. These gave to the people not only the 
wisdom of the presiding elder, but the variety of 
these young men. 

"The returns of 1833 give to Laporte 140 mem- 
bers; but this included Terre Coupee society, most 
of whom lived beyond the county line. The first 
camp meeting was on J. A. Osborne's lands, near 



WEST AND NORTH-WEST. -29 

Door Village. At this meeting $300 was subscribed 
to build the first Door Village church; here, for 
some years, was the strongest society in the county. 
It had laymen and local preachers, whose general 
knowledge gave them influence, and whose devotion 
to the Church made them a power for usefulness. 

''F. Standiford was one of those who came to 
this county. He was brought up in Maryland in 
the midst of old Methodists, and graduated to the 
order of elder as a ' local ' preacher. He moved 
to Laporte from Putnam county, Indiana, having 
lived first in Kentucky after leaving Maryland. He 
was a representative 'local' preacher, assisting the 
itinerating preachers by his experience in knowl- 
edge of ' Scripture holiness.' There was, in the 
days of large circuits traveled by young men, a 
necessity for something more fixed than the occa- 
sional visits of the itinerating evangelist; and a 
society was favored when it had an ordained local 
preacher. This was the condition of the Door Vil- 
lage society. There were also tried laymen in 
that band of men, who, though they had come, some 
from Ohio, others from Virginia, and others from 
New York State, yet met with one accord in one 
place, and were blessed of God. Many of these have 
finished their careers, and rest from their labors. 
F. Standiford, A. Stearns, and J. Sale, have passed 
on, before those who yet remain to see the fruits of 
planting the Church in this beautiful prairie. 

^' Of traveling preachers, who did betimes something 



30 EARLY HISTORY OF THE 

to build these societies, and who have passed away, I 
now call up E. Smith, A. Johnson, G. W. Baker, J. 
Garner, W. F. Wheeler, G. M. Beswick, J. Jenkins, 
and W. Poney. All these had at some time con- 
tributed to the ministerial work of a quarterly 
meeting at Door Village. The first and strongest 
off-shoot from this old stock was Union Chapel, on 
the south end of Door Prairie, composed largely of 
a colony from Clark county, Indiana, relations of 
*Kobertsons' and 'Garners,' who formed the first 
Methodist class in Indiana Territory in 1802. The 
leading laymen and local preachers were sui generis 
Methodist, of old Maryland and Ohio stock — oral — 
hospitable — earnest — loyal." 



WEST AND NORTH-WEST. 31 



CHAPTER III. 

For the subject-matter of this and the following 
chapter, I am indebted to brother W. 0. Smith's 
"Indiana Miscellany;" from diflPerent portions oi 
which they are compiled. 

It has generally been thought that Methodism 
was introduced into Indiana, in what is known as 
Clark's Grant, which included a portion of what is 
now Clark and Floyd counties. In later years it 
has been stated that a class of Methodists was 
formed in Clark's Grant, as early as 1802 ; but upon 
what evidence or authority we do not know. We 
do know that Kev. Hugh Cull, a local preacher, set- 
tled in the Whitewater country as early as 1805, 
having visited the country the year previous. The 
first circuit in Indiana was called Whitewater, and 
belonged to the Ohio district, in the old Western 
Conference. It embraced all the country from the 
Ohio Eiver along the eastern line of the territory, 
as far north as there were any white settlements, 
which was in the region where Eichmond now stands, 
and west to the land belonging to the Indians. 
This circuit was probably formed in 1807. It ap- 
pears upon the Minutes of the Western Conference, 
in the year 1808, with Joseph Williams as preacher 
in charge, and John Sale presiding elder of the 



32 EAELY HISTORY OF THE 

district. The settlements visited by Mr. Williams 
were remote from each other ; the traveling was la- 
borious and hazardous; the roads along which he 
passed were Indian traces and newly blazed ways; 
the streams were unbridged ; the country was full 
of ravenous beasts and the much-dreaded Indians... 
The emigrants, to whom he ministered, could afford 
him but few accommodations. He labored faithfully, 
hunting up the Methodists who had pitched their 
tents in the wilderness, and at the end of the year 
returned 165 white members and one colored. Ac- 
cording to the most reliable data, these were all the 
Methodists who had to this date been organized and 
numbered in Indiana. In 1808 Indiana contained 
but one circuit, with 166 members of the Methodist 
Episcopal Church. ISTow, 1866, there are four An- 
nual Conferences, with a membership of about 100,- 
000 in the State. How great the change in fifty- 
eight years ! Mr. Williams has the honor of being 
the first itinerant Methodist preacher appointed to 
a circuit in Indiana. We would, if we had the par- 
ticulars of his life and death, give -them to the pub- 
lic to perpetuate his memory. In 1809 he was sent 
to Scioto circuit, in the State of Ohio, and in 1810 
he located. In 1809 Indiana district was formed, 
and Samuel Parker was appointed presiding elder. 
It was composed of the following circuits : Illinois, 
Missouri, Maramack, Coldwater, Whitewater, and 
Silver Creek. Though but two circuits of this dis- 
trict were in Indiana, we give its entire bounds. 



WEST AND NORTH-WEST. 33 

that the young men, who are now traveling circuits 
and districts in the State, may see the extent of the 
fields of labor our fathers had to cultivate. This 
district covered all the territories of Indiana, Illi- 
nois, and Missouri. It required, surely, a man of 
st]'ong nerves and stout heart to travel such a dis- 
trict at such a time. In traveling this district Mr. 
Parker had to go from the eastern boundary of In- 
diana across Illinois, and then across the Mississippi 
Eiver into Missouri. In some places many miles of 
unbroken wilderness intervened between the settle- 
ments he had to visit. This year Silver Creek cir- 
cuit was formed, and embraced all the settlements 
in the southern portion of the territory, and up the 
Ohio Kiver to Whitewater circuit. Hector Sanford 
and Moses Grume were appointed to Whitewater, 
and Josiah Crawford to Silver Creek. The most 
northern appointment on the Whitewater circuit 
was the cabin of George Smith, which was about 
two miles from where the city of Eichmond is now 
situated. At the close of this year the preachers 
returned 352 members for Whitewater circuit, and 
188 for Silver Creek, making an increase of 374. 
In 1810 Whitewater was placed in the Miami dis- 
trict, with John Sale presiding elder, and Thomas 
Nelson and Samuel H. Thompson circuit preachers. 
This district was composed of the following circuits : 
Cincinnati, Mad Kiver, Scioto, Deer Creek, Hockhock- 
ing, White Oak, and Whitewater. Silver Creek was 
in the Green Eiver district, William Burke presiding 



34 EARLY HISTORY OF THE 

elder, and Sela Paine circuit preacher. This dis- 
trict was composed of the following circuits : Green 
Eiver, Barren, Wayne, Cumberland, Danville, Salt 
Eiver, Shelby, and Silver Creek. Indiana district 
was composed of Illinois, Missouri, Maramack, Cold- 
water, Cape Girardeau, and Vincennes circuits. 
Samuel Parker was returned to the district, and 
Wm. Winans was appointed to Vincennes. Nelson 
and Thompson, who traveled the Whitewater circuit 
this year, both rose to considerable distinction, par- 
ticularly Mr. Thompson. The next year Nelson was 
sent to Eapids circuit in Mississippi. Mr. Thomp- 
son was sent to Nollechuckie, in the State of Ten- 
nessee. Neither of these men ever returned to In- 
diana to labor. 

Sela Paine, who traveled the Silver Creek circuit 
this year, was sent the next to Natchez circuit, 
Mississippi. 

Vincennes circuit appears on the Minutes of the 
Conference this year for the first time, making three 
fields of labor in Indiana. What the dimensions of 
this circuit were we have no means of knowing. 
Vincennes was an old French post, under the in- 
fluence of the Eoman Catholics, a hard place in 
which to plant Methodism. Mr. Winans, who had 
been sent to Vincennes this year, had been admitted 
on trial in the Western Conference the year before. 
He was a young man of promising talents, and made 
a good impression on those who heard him preach. 
It was difficult for him to get the people of 



WEST AND NOETH-WEST. 35 

Vincennes to come to preaching, so wicked and so 
much were they under the influence of the Eomish 
priests. 

The following incident is said to have occurred 
this year: General William H. Harrison was Gov- 
ernor of the territory of Indiana, and resided at 
Vincennes. Young Mr. Winans had an appointment 
to preach one night, in a small room in town. Gen- 
eral Harrison and one other person composed the 
congregation assembled to hear the young preacher. 
There was but one candle to give light, and nothing 
to place that upon. The General held the can- 
dle for the young preacher to see to read his hymn 
and text. Mr. Winans preached faithfully to those 
two hearers. After this he had no trouble in getting 
a congregation to preach to. At the close of this 
year the preachers returned 484 members from 
Whitewater circuit, 235 from Silver Creek, and 
forty-three from Vincennes, making a total of 765, 
an increase of 418; showing that Methodism began 
to take a deep hold upon the pioneers in Indiana. 
In 1811 Whitewater circuit was continued in con- 
nection with the Miami district, Solomon Langdon 
presiding elder, and Moses Grume in charge of the 
circuit. The people hailed Mr. Grume's return to 
them with great delight. He had traveled the cir- 
cuit as junior preacher two years before. He made 
his impress upon the people so deeply this year, that 
he was ever afterward a great favorite among them. 
Isaac Lindsey was sent to Silver Creek circuit this 



36 EARLY HISTORY OF THE 

year. It remained in connection with the Green 
Eiver district, with William Burke as presiding 
elder. 

Vincennes appears on the Minutes this year as 
"St. Vincennes," in connection with the Cumberland 
district; Learner Blackman presiding elder, and 
Thomas S til well circuit preacher. Mr. Blackman 
was a man eminent for his talents, piety, and useful- 
ness. During the course of his life he traveled over 
a very extensive territory of country, ranging from 
Pittsburg to New Orleans, and was highly esteemed 
by all who knew him. This year the preachers 
reported 368 members from Whitewater circuit, 397 
from Silver Creek, and 325 from Vincennes, making 
a total of 1,160, or an increase of 395. In 1812 
two additional circuits were formed in Indiana; 
Lawrenceburg and Patoka. Whitewater and Law- 
renceburg were connected with the Miami district, 
Solomon Langdon presiding elder. Silver Creek was 
connected with Salt Eiver district, James Ward 
presiding elder; while Vincennes and Patoka were 
connected with Wabash district, James Axley pre- 
siding elder. Walter Griffith was sent to Lawrence- 
burg, Eobert W. Finley to Whitewater, William 
M'Mahon to Silver Creek, James Turner to Vin- 
cennes, and Benjamin Edge to Patoka. These men 
were all faithful and useful. 

Walter Griffith, who traveled the Lawrenceburg 
circuit this year, was afterward made presiding 
elder, and filled that important office with great 



WEST AND NORTH-WEST. 37 

acceptability and usefulness. Eobert W. Finley had 
been a Presbyterian minister for several years, and 
was tlie father of Bev. James B. Finley, who rose 
to such distinction in Ohio. At the close of the 
year there were returned from the five circuits in 
Indiana a total membership of 1,121, which seems 
to present a decrease in the number of Church 
members; but from some cause, there were no 
returns from Lawrenceburg and Patoka circuits. 
This accounts for the apparent decrease in the 
number of members. 

In 1813 the old Western Conference was divided 
or discontinued, and the Ohio and Tennessee Con- 
ferences were formed out of it. The circuits in 
Indiana were placed in these two Conferences, 
Lawrenceburg and Whitewater were placed in the 
Miami district, and Silver Creek in the Salt Eiver 
district, all within the boundary lines of Ohio Con- 
ference. Patoka disappears this year. William 
Dixon was sent to Lawrenceburg, John Strange went 
to Whitewater, and Thomas Nelson to Silver Creek. 

At the close of this year the number of Church 
members reported were as follows: Lawrenceburg, 
489; Whitewater, 847; Silver Creek, 555; Vin- 
cennes, 175 ; Patoka, 110. Total membership, 2,176. 

In five years, two thousand, one hundred and 
seventy-six members had been gathered into the 
Methodist Episcopal Church in Indiana, and this 
though the country was new, and though but a small 
portion of the territory was inhabited by white people. 



38 EASILY HISTOEY OF THE 

This large increase sliows that the men who had 
been sent into the wild wilderness to cultivate Im- 
manuel's land, had done their work faithfully, and 
God had crowned their labors with success. 

In 1814 Moses Grume was sent to Lawrence- 
burg circuit, David Sharp to Whitewater, Charles 
Harrison to Silver Creek, and Zachariah Witten to 
Vincennes. Patoka does not appear on the list of 
appointments this year. Charles Holliday was ap- 
pointed presiding elder of Salt Eiver district, and 
Silver Creek being in his district gave him connec- 
tions with the work in Indiana; and Jesse Walker, 
being presiding elder of Illinois district, and Vin- 
cennes being in that district, he was brought in con- 
nection with the work in Indiana. 

The number of members reported at the close of 
this year was 1,759, showing a decrease, which was 
caused by the derangement of the work produced 
by the war in which the country was then engaged. 
In 1815 John Strange was sent to Lawrenceburg, 
William Hunt to Whitewater, Shadrach Ruark to 
Silver Creek, John Scripps to Patoka, and John Shra- 
der to Vincennes, with the same presiding elders that 
traveled the districts the year before. The number 
of circuits was not increased, but their boundaries 
were greatly enlarged. 

The terror among the settlers, caused by the 
war, and the constant danger from the Indians that 
infested the country by thousands, had caused many 
of the inhabitants to return to the old States for 



WEST AND NOETH-WEST. 39 

safety. Among them were many Methodists, causing 
a great decrease thio year. There were reported to 
Conference a total of 1,504. 

In 1816 David Sharp was sent to Lawrenceburg, 
Daniel Fraley to Whitewater, Joseph Kinkade to Sil- 
ver Creek, John Shrader to Blue Eiver, Thomas A. 
King to Patoka, and Thomas Davis to Vincennes. 
Blue Eiver circuit had been formed out of a part of 
Silver Creek. It extended down the Ohio Eiver and 
out to the head-waters of Patoka. We now have 
six circuits formed in Indiana. The war being 
over and the country becoming more quiet, the 
inhabitants who had fled for fear of the Indians be- 
gan to return, with many new emigrants. The 
preachers were enabled to report this year a total of 
1,877 members, an increase of 373 over the past 
year. 

In 1817 Eussel Bigelow was sent to Lawrence- 
burg, Benjamin Lawrence to Whitewater, Daniel 
M' Henry and Thomas Davis to Patoka, James M'- 
Cord and Charles Slocomb to Vincennes, John 
Cord to Blue Eiver, Joseph Pownal to Silver Creek. 

Missouri, Conference having been formed, all of 
Illinois and all of Indiana, except Lawrenceburg 
and Whitewater circuits, were placed in that Con- 
ference. The other circuits were in the Illinois dis- 
trict, with Samuel H. Thompson for presiding elder. 
Moses Crume was placed over the Miami district, in 
the Ohio Conference; which brought him back to 
Lawrenceburg and Whitewater circuits, where he 



40 EAELY HISTORY OF THE 

met a hearty welcome from the people. The 
preachers on the six circuits, in Indiana, reported at 
the close of the year a total membership of 1,907, 
being a small increase over the past year. In 
1818 Samuel West and Allen Wiley were sent 
to Lawrenceburg, William Hunt to Whitewater, 
Charles Slocomb to Patoka, Thomas Davis to Little 
Pigeon, John Shrader and John M'Cord to Vin- 
cennes, Othniel Taebert to Blue Kiver, and John Cord 
to Silver Creek. Little Pigeon was a new circuit 
just formed, and embraced the country south-west 
of Blue Kiver circuit. We have now seven circuits, 
traveled by nine preachers. The preachers reported 
to Conference at the close of this year a total of 
3,044 members, an increase of 1,037. 

In the year 1819 the work in Indiana was so ar- 
ranged as to place the circuits in two Annual Con- 
ferences, namely, the Ohio and Missouri, and to 
form three districts ; namely, the Lebanon and 
Miami, in the Ohio Conference, and the Illinois in 
the Missouri Conference. There were three new 
circuits formed, which appear upon the Minutes 
this year for the first time ; namely, Madison, Indian 
Creek, and Harrison. The circuits were placed in 
districts as follows : Whitewater in Lebanon dis- 
trict, with Moses Crume presiding elder; Lawrence- 
burg and Madison in Miami district, with John 
Sale presiding elder; and Silver Creek, Indian Creek, 
Blue River, Harrison, Vincennes, Patoka, and Pigeon, 
in Illinois district, with Jesse Hale presiding elder. 



WEST AND NORTH-WEST. 41 

Allen Wiley and Zachariali Connell were sent to 
Whitewater circuit, Benjamin Lawrence to Lawrence- 
burg, John T. Kent to Madison, David Sharp to 
Silver Creek, William Mavity to Indian Creek, 
John Pownal to Blue Eiver, William Medford to 
Harrison, John Cord to Vincennes, John Wallace 
and Daniel M'Henry to Patoka and Pigeon. This 
was a year of considerable prosperity. The whole 
number of members in Indiana was 3,470, giving 
an increase for the year of 426. 

In 1820 the districts and circuits were as-ain 

o 

changed, and supplied as follows: Miami district, 
Ohio Conference, Walter Griffith presiding elder; 
Whitewater circuit, Arthur W. Elliott, Samuel 
Brown; Lawrenceburg, Benjamin Lawrence, Henry 
S. Farnandis; Madison, Henry Baker, William H. 
Baper; Indiana district, Missouri Conference, Sam- 
uel Hamilton presiding elder ; Silver Creek circuit, 
Calvin Enter, Job M. Baker ; Indian Creek, John 
Shrader, John Everhart; Blue Kiver, John Stew- 
art, Joseph Pownal; Patoka, John Wallace; Vin- 
cennes, Daniel M'Henry. Pigeon and Harrison do 
not appear on the Minutes this year. 

This year Calvin Ruter commenced his labors in 
Indiana. He had been admitted into the Ohio Con- 
ference two years before, and was now transferred 
to the Missouri Conference. The whole number of 
members returned this year was 4,399, giving an 
increase of 929. In 1821 Charlestown, Blooming- 
ton, Ohio, Mount Sterling, and Corydon appear on 

4 



42 EARLY HISTORY OF THE 

the Minutes as heads of circuits. The presiding 
elders continued upon the districts as they were the 
past year. This year James Jones was sent to 
Whitewater, John P. Durbin and James Collard to 
Lawrenceburg, Allen Wiley and William P. Quinn 
to Madison, Calvin Ruter and William Cravens to 
Charlestown, John Scripps and Samuel Glaize to 
Blue River, Daniel Chamberlin to Bloomington, Job 
M. Baker to Vincennes, Elias Stone to Patoka, John 
Wallace to Ohio, George K. Hester to Mount Ster- 
ling, and John Shrader to Corydon. The aggregate 
membership for this year was 7,314. Methodism 
was now advancing rapidly in the State. 

In 1822 Allen Wiley and James T. Wells were 
sent to Whitewater, Henry Baker to Lawrenceburg, 
James Jones and James Murray to Madison, with 
Alexander Cummins for presiding elder. James 
Armstrong was sent to Charlestown, George K. 
Hester to Flat Rock, John Wallace and Joseph 
Kinkade to Blue River, Jthn Cord to Bloomington, 
David Chamberlin to Honey Creek, John Stewart 
to Vincennes, James L. Thompson to Patoka, Eben- 
ezer Webster to Mount Sterling, Job M. Baker to 
Corydon, and William Cravens to Indianapolis, with 
Samuel Hamilton for presiding elder. Indianapolis 
now appears on the Minutes as the head of a circuit, 
for the first time. In 1866 there were five Method- 
ist preachers and one missionary stationed at Indi- 
anapolis, and the charges in the city belong to four 
Annual Conferences. The borders of Methodism 



WEST AND NOETH-WEST. 43 

had rapidly enlarged. The men, into whose hands 
the work had been committed, were fully devoted 
to their calling. In 1823 the number of circuits 
had increased to fifteen. Two new ones had been 
formed in Connersville and Eel Eiver. Cummins 
and Hamilton were continued as presiding elders. 
The appointments of the preachers were as follows: 
Whitewater, Eussel Bigelow and George Gatch; 
Lawrenceburg, W. H. Raper; Madison, J. Stewart 
and Nehemiah B. GrijQ&th; Connersville, James Mur- 
ray and James C. Taylor ; Charlestown, James Arm- 
strong; Flat Eock, Dennis Wiley; Blue Eiver, W. 
M. Eeynolds and George K. Hester; Bloomington, 
John Cord; Honey Creek, Hackaliah Vredenburg; 
Vincennes, John Ingersoll and Job M. Baker; Pa- 
toka, Ebenezer F. Webster; Mount Sterling, Ste- 
phen E. Beggs; Corydon, James L. Thompson; In- 
dianapolis, James Scott; Eel Eiver, William Cra- 
vens. The whole membership this year was 7,733, 
giving an increase of nineteen. 



44 EAELY HISTORY OF THE 



CHAPTER IV. 

The Divine Being will always take care of those 
who trust in him, and unreservedly devote all their 
time and strength to his service. He w^ll support, 
sustain, comfort, and deliver them in time of trouble. 

In the year 1828, when Stephen K. Beggs traveled 
the Wayne circuit, Mrs. H., who then resided in 
Eichmond, was deeply convicted of sin; she was 
awakened under a sermon preached by Mr. Beggs, 
from Psalm 1, 14, 15 : '' Offer unto God thanksgiv- 
ing; and pay thy vows unto the Most High; and 
call upon me in the day of trouble: I will deliver 
thee, and thou shalt glorify me." She had a long 
and hard struggle, but after weeks of deep penitence, 
found redemption in the blood of the Lamb; her 
burden of guilt was taken away, and her ''mourn- 
ing was turned into joy." So intense was her agony 
of mind before she found peace in believing, that 
she was almost incapable of attending to her 
domestic duties ; so great was her joy when she felt 
all her sins were forgiven, that she shouted aloud 
the praises of God, saying : " Now, Lord, from this 
time forth, in weal or in woe, in sickness or in 
health, in tribulation, in distress, poverty, persecu- 
tion, living or dying; I am thine — thine forever!" 
She connected herself with the Methodist Episcopal 



WEST AND NOETH-WEST. 45 

Church, casting in her lot with the little persecuted 
band in Bichmond. Her husband was a very wicked 
man J violently opposed to her piety, particularly 
to her being among the Methodists, who, on account 
of their religion, were not in the sweetest odor in 
the nostrils of most citizens in town. He not only 
refused to render her any assistance, but by every 
means in his power strove to block up the way, pre- 
vent her from attending Church, and break her ofi 
from her piety, abusing the Methodists with oaths 
and curses, threatening her with violence if she did 
not desist from her religious course. He often 
crossed her in domestic concerns, trying in every 
possible way to get her angry, thinking, if he could 
only aggravate her to madness, the victory would 
be won and his triumph complete ; but in this he 
failed, while Mrs. H. was- kind and affectionate, 
giving every necessary attention to the wants of her 
family, enduring the abuses heaped upon herself 
and the Methodists by her husband, never uttering 
an unkind word, or allowing a murmur to escape her 
lips. She did not allow his opposition or threats to 
deter her from the discharge of her religious duties, 
but was faithful in all things, always at class and 
prayer meetings, and always in attendance upon the 
preached Word. Her steadfastness continued as time 
rolled on, though the oppositions she met from her 
husband increased. A two days' meeting was ap- 
pointed in the country a few miles from town. When 
the time drew near her husband forbade her going; 



46 EARLY HISTOEY OF THE 

she flew to the Lord, who was her "stronghold in 
the day of trouble." Eeceiving, as she believed, an 
answer that it was right for her to go, she made 
every arrangement she could for the comfort of her 
husband during her absence. When the time ar- 
rived she took her two children, and, being aided 
by some kind friends, made her way on Saturday 
to the place of meeting, intending to return on Sun- 
day evening. As the meeting progressed she was 
greatly blessed. While she spoke in the love-feast 
on Sunday morning, the Holy Ghost came down; 
every heart was thrilled, every eye melted to tears. 
It rained throughout the day on Sunday, which 
raised Whitewater beyond fording, and Mrs. H. 
could not return. There being several persons at 
the house where she was, they held a prayer meet- 
ing. During the exercises, Mrs. H. was called upoa 
to pray. She poured out her burdened soul to God; 
never did woman plead for a husband with greater 
earnestness. 

During all this time her husband was at home, 
raging like a madman. When Sunday night came and 
his wife did not return, he became furious. About 
midnight, concluding his wife had given herself to the 
Methodists, caring nothing for Him, he resolved to 
burn up his house and all it contained, and "run 
away by the light." He went to work and packed 
up his clothes. When all was ready and he was 
about to kindle the fire to consume his house, it oc- 
curred to him that it would be too cruel to burn the 



WEST AND NORTH-WEST. 47 

house and all its contents, and leave his wife and 
children with nothing to help themselves. After a 
moment's pause, he concluded to leave the house and 
goods for her; but ^'he would go, and she should 
nevermore see his face." He took his pack and 
started, directing his steps toward Eaton, Ohio. 
When he had walked about four miles, suddenly the 
thought entered his mind, "This is just what my wife 
and the Methodists desire — to get rid of me." With 
an oath he determined they should not be gratified. 
" He would go back and devil them as long as he 
lived." Eetracing his steps, when he reached town 
the day was dawning. He went to his house — 
which he had left after midnight, intending never 
to return — and put away his clothes. His passion 
had been wrought up to such a pitch that he felt 
he must have revenge some way. To this end he 
went to a liquor-saloon and took a potion, to nerve 
him more fully for his purpose. He then went out 
on the streets, intending to whip the first man that 
gave him a harsh word or an unpleasant look. To his 
utter discomfiture, every one he met was in a most 
pleasant humor; none gave him an unkind word. 
At this he was so much chagrined, he determined 
to commit suicide ; but soon the thought occurred : 
*' This is what my wife and the Methodists desire — 
any thing to get rid of me." Toward noon of this 
day, his wife returned home. As soon as she ar- 
rived he commenced cursing the Methodists, hoping 
thereby to provoke her to reply. He was again 



48 EARLY HISTORY OF THE 

doomed to disappointment. In this he did not suc- 
ceed, though he kept it up till a late hour in the 
night. Finding this effort to provoke his wife into 
a dispute failed, he now tried another scheme; that 
was to make her believe he would kill himself, hop- 
ing she would yield, rather than " he should do that 
dreadful deed;" at least, that ''she would try to dis- 
suade him from his purpose." Mrs. H. did not 
make any reply, but with her _ heart uplifted to 
Godwin earnest prayer, felt that he would overrule 
all for good. In a few weeks after this, the first 
two-day meeting held in Richmond was to come off. 
When Mrs. H.'s husband heard that the meeting 
was appointed, he gave her most positive orders not 
to bring any Methodists about the house at that 
time. She gave no promise, but as the time drew 
near made what preparations she could to accom- 
modate a few friends. 

When the meeting came on she invited two 
mothers in Israel home with her on Saturday. Her 
husband, finding they were in his house, would not 
go home till a late hour at night. On Sunday 
morning he ventured to the breakfast-table. While 
at the table the ladies invited him to go to the love- 
feast that morning. Instantly he said to himself, 
" That 's my chance. The Methodists have door- 
keepers when they hold love-feasts, and they talk to 
those who arc nof, members of the Church before 
they let them in. I will go to the door, but I will 
not go in. When I get there and they begin to talk 



"WEST AND NORTH-WEST. 49 

to me, I will give the Methodists — preachers and 
people — a round cursing in the hearing of them all, 
and then turn away; that will be some gratifica- 
tion to me." When the hour for love-feast arrived, 
he accompanied his wife and the two ladies to the 
school-house where the meeting was held. -4-s they 
drew near the door — there being quite a crowd 
there — he concluded to fall back a little, till all had 
passed in, ''lest the door-keeper might not speak to 
him, and then he would lose the opportunity of do- 
ing up the job of cursing he had prepared himself 
for." When they had all passed in he stepped upon 
the door-step. The door-keeper swung the door 
wide open. He stepped in and halted. The door- 
keeper, putting his arm around, drew him a little 
forward and closed the door without saying a word. 
Mr. H. turned pale, and, trembling from head to 
foot, sat down. 

The love-feast was a time of power. He never 
had been in one before — had not intended to be in 
this, "but was caught in a trap." He felt that his 
distress of mind was intolerable; that if the tor- 
ments of the damned in hell were any greater than 
he had been enduring for months, he could not 
bear the thought. In that love-feast he resolved 
if there was any such religion as the Methodists and 
his wife professed, he would have it or die seeking. 
From this time he sought the pardon of his nu- 
merous sins. The struggle continued for weeks. 

So great was his distress of mind, that much of the 

5 



50 EAELY HISTORY OF THE 

time he could neither eat nor sleep. Now did Mrs. 
H. most devoutly pray that God would have mercy 
on her husband. He was clearly and powerfully 
converted at a camp meeting, joined the Church, 
and became as zealous in the cause of the Eedeemer 
as he had been in that of Satan, and as ardently 
attached to the Church as he had been bitterly op- 
posed to it. How wondrous the mercy of God! 
During all the time he was so fearfully opposing 
his wife the carnal mind I was fearful of being cast 
out. He was often heard to say, " The steadfastness 
of my wife, with God's blessing, saved me." 

Had Mrs. H. yielded in the slightest degree, or 
faltered in her religious course, the probabilities are 
her husband never would have been converted, and 
she would have retrograded in her piety. The text 
from which the sermon was preached, that was the 
instrument in her awakening, made a lasting im- 
pression on her mind : " Offer unto God thanksgiv- 
ing ; and pay thy vows unto the Most High ; and call 
upon me in the day of trouble; I will deliver thee: 
and thou shalt glorify me." To this she clung till 
she realized the fulfillment of the blessed promise. 



WEST AND NORTH-WEST. 51 



CHAPTER V. 

I WAS received into the Missouri Conference, Oc- 
tober, 1822, and was appointed in charge of the Mt. 
Sterling circuit, Indiana, Samuel Hamilton presiding 
elder. This was a four weeks' circuit, lying mostly 
on the Ohio Kiver, and extending north nearly to 
Pealey. It was a sore trial to my friends as well 
as me. They wept as I wept; and for the first few 
miles I indulged myself in a good ''fi!t of crying." 
I constantly thought of what father said; that in a 
few years I would break down, and die poor and 
helpless, as he had almost nothing to give me. I 
was to have only $100 a year if I got all my ^' quar- 
terage;" and very many, I knew, labored the whole 
year and did not get one-fourth their dues. But all 
such thoughts I had to banish, and rely on the sim- 
ple promise of God, " Lo, I am with you always !" 
I thank him that to-day I can look back upon the 
realization of more than my expectations, both as 
regards things spiritual and things temporal. 

Upon reaching my circuit, which was fifty miles 
from home, I had a harder task yet — that was, to 
let the people know what I had come for. I was a 
mere boy. Many of them had no suspicion that I 
was their preacher, and my numerous questions did 
not give them the hint; so I had to make a clean 



62 EARLY HISTORY OF THE 

breast of it at last. I soon realized my inexperi- 
ence — alone, on an old circuit, with no Hedding or 
Baker to instruct me in my duties in enforcing dis- 
cipline. In no subsequent year did I have more 
Church trials to conduct, and more perplexing busi- 
ness to transact. But the more crushing the respons- 
ibilities, the more and more earnestly did I pray. 
I was fortunate, however, in at last having the ad- 
vice of a few old preachers who lived on the circuit, 
and got through the year without any charge or 
suspicion of maladministration; at which I thanked 
God and took courage. 

After a few rounds on my circuit the good work 
began. In spite of a three weeks' attack of pleu- 
risy, I maintained the interest unremitted. Two 
camp meetings were held. At the first Elder Ham- 
ilton presided, preaching frequently with great dem- 
onstration of the Spirit and of power, especially in 
the conversion of souls. This led the way to a 
second, which was held among the hills of Patoka. 
Brother Hamilton was not present, but the local 
preachers — one a colored man — rendered most effect- 
ive assistance. I had heard the doctrine of sancti- 
fication preached — the first time by William Cra- 
vens — and now, believing it as Scripture doctrine, 
and because thousands had lived in its enjoyments, 
I preached it to others and besought it for myself. 
Before the meeting closed, I, along with many who 
heard me, was blest with a deep experience of its 
truth. God's will became my will, and I learned to 



WEST AND NORTH-WEST. 53 

live in him continually. All my soul was love, and 
for weeks I could continually sing, 

" There 's not a cloud that doth arise 
To hide my Savior from my eyes." 

My long rides this year, continually breasting 
the storms of a very cold Winter, together with ex- 
posure in open houses, brought on a violent attack 
of pleurisy. In May or June I was obliged to travel 
on foot, my horse having become lame. 

One morning I left brother Joseph Springer's for 
Eome, fifteen miles distant, where I was to preach 
at 11 o'clock. I journeyed — carrying saddle-bags 
and great-coat — over the most hilly portion of Indi- 
ana. Calling at a house to inquire the way, the 
owner was kind enough to assist me for some dis- 
tance across a stream, and as we journeyed I intro- 
duced the subject of religion, and learned his relig- 
ious history, which was substantially as follows: 
He thought religion necessary, and believed he would 
have experienced it had brother Hamilton remained 
in charge of the district ; '' For," said he, '* I was 
at a certain camp meeting where he preached, and 
during the sermon I was affected with chills, alter- 
nating with contractions of the skin on my head. 
The preacher's voice was soon lost in a general shout, 
scores of penitent sinners exclaiming as one man, 
*What must I do to be saved?' Then Hamilton 
paused for a quarter of an hour, as he said, to ' let the 
Lord preach;' then he began again, and in his mild, 
pathetic manner told of the goodness of God, and 



64 EARLY HISTORY OF THE 

of the sinner's portion if he did not repent; and," 
said the friend, ''he hurt me a devilish sight worse 
than when he preached loud." But, deprived of his 
favorite preacher, he was still in his sins, in which 
state I was obliged to leave him, after thanking him 
for his kindness, and exhorting him to go directly 
to God for the blessing. 

Having filled my appointment at Rome, and being 
unable to get a horse, I concluded to try a raft on 
the Ohio River. I soon had one afloat, reaching 
my appointment, twelve miles down, in good time. 
I reached the next appointment — Troy — eighteen 
miles further down, in the same manner, by an ex- 
tra use of the paddle; likewise, the next, six miles 
further down. Having no horse yet, I failed to 
reach the next appointment, sixteen miles distant, 
through a low, wet country; so I took my way 
across to a two days' meeting, to be held at brother 
Moore's the next Saturday and Sabbath. Here I 
expected to meet some local brethren; but none 
came, and the work all came on me — four sermons, 
besides several exhortations, the results of which 
were very encouraging. 

On Monday morning, though ill prepared, I set 
out through a wilderness to my next appointment, 
the house of brother Combes, twenty miles away. 
After a vain attempt to get some rest at noon, 
among the busy subjects of the musketo kingdom, 
I resumed my burden, and my march through briers 
and obstacles numberless, and in due time reached 



WEST AND NORTH-WEST. 65 

my appointment. How glad the people were in 
those days to see their preacher 1 The Gospel feast 
was a feast indeed, generally a whole month between 
meals ! This year may be summed up as a total of 
long, hard rides and great labor, both of preaching 
and settling Church difficulties. But it was a year of 
great spiritual comfort; not only for what I gained 
in it, but what I did, with God's blessing, for others. 
The membership on my charge had increased from 
346 to 436. My horse never quite recovered, and 
I had to exchange for another. 

It may be worth while to remark that I was no 
exception to the general rule in regard to Methodist 
preachers and their horses. I never lost a horse till 
I had traveled twelve years. My cash receipts for 
the year were $40. In addition to the camp meet- 
ings already spoken of, I visited another on the 
Blue Eiver circuit — preachers in attendance, James 
Garner, senior, George Hester, and Wm. M'Reynolds. 
My efforts here were attended with such success 
that one brother came to me, and said that if I 
would go around the camp-ground and exhort, the 
people would all be converted. 

I returned to my circuit inspired with new zeal 
for my work, not only for the rest of the year, but 
for the next year's labors. Eeturning home at the 
end of the year, I spent a few days there, little 
thinking, and caring less, where my next work would 
lie, and what it would be. 

The Conference was a large one, inclosing Arkan- 



66 EARLY HISTORY OF THE 

sas, Missouri, Illinois, and a large portion of Indiana; 
on whicli I might be sent 800 miles from home, 
the only mode of reaching my destination being on 
horseback. The Conference met at St. Louis, Octo- 
ber, 1823. I was not present ; but learned in a few- 
weeks that I was appointed to Lemoin circuit — 
David Sharp presiding elder — in what was called the 
Boone's Lick country; the distance was 500 miles. 
Speedily getting my little effects together, I set out, 
leaving a circle of weeping friends and neighbors, 
to a land and among a people that I knew not. I 
crossed the Wabash at Vincennes, and soon struck 
the Grand Prairie, not knowing where I should find 
resting places, and Winter close at hand. 

I was not a little comforted to meet brother 
Samuel H. Thompson — presiding elder, Illinois dis- 
trict — late one evening, on his way to a quarterly 
meeting. He insisted on my stopping over night 
with him. After some religious conversation, in 
which he gave me very good advice, he led the 
family prayers, in which he remembered not only 
me but my horse — suggesting what Mr. Wesley 
said, that when he prayed for his horse, he never 
lost any. He then gave me a ''way-bill" to my 
circuit, being acquainted with the whole 500 miles 
I had to travel, which embraced the inhabited por- 
tions of Indiana, Illinois, and Missouri. I had not 
traveled far the next day before I encountered 
a snow-storm, which continued till late in the 
evening. 



WEST AND NORTH-WEST. 57 

I at length reached old brother Padfield's, where 
I was received with open arms, and received much 
assistance in preparing for my journey. I preached 
before I left — my first sermon I preached in Illi- 
nois, some forty-four years ago. I crossed the Mis- 
sissippi at St. Louis, spending the Sabbath with 
Eev. John Scripps, for whom I preached in the 
evening. I did not enjoy much liberty in this my 
first experience in the ''pulpit," which was con- 
structed in the old style, about six feet high and 
four feet square. I, however, did my best, no un- 
common thing, perhaps; for if a preacher has not 
religion enough he has pride enough to do that. 

Next morning I left, crossing the river at St. 
Charles. I every-where found kind, liberal friends. 
Passing through brother Eedmond's work — Boone's 
Lick circuit — I spent Saturday and Sabbath at his 
quarterly meeting. Being entirely out of money, I 
had the good fortune to borrow twenty-five cents to 
help me across the Missouri Eiver to my circuit. 
My horse being much worn down, I borrowed 
one that was both young and wild, to bear me on 
my first tour of my work. About thirty miles from 
the place I left in the morning, in the midst of a 
large houseless prairie, my horse took fright, and 
jumping from under me, left me and my saddle-bags 
by the wayside. In his haste homeward, he soon 
left the saddle also. I shouldered both and traveled 
back laboriously to the first house, where I left 
them and went on after the horse. Night soon over- 



58 EAELY HISTOUT OP THE 

took me. I missed my way and wandered I knew 
not wliitlier, till, at length, I found myself on the 
banks of the Missouri. There was no house within 
two miles. It was very dark and the cold was be- 
coming intense. At length, after prolonged halloo- 
ing, I persuaded the people to come over for me. 
I spent the night at the house of a deist. It took 
all the little money I had to pay my bill and ferriage 
back in the morning. I presently found my horse, 
which had been stopped by a friend, and mounting 
'' bareback," returned to where I had left my sad- 
dle and luggage, and went on visiting my appoint- 
ments, which were from eight to fifteen miles apart. 
I enjoyed good health, and was generally able to 
meet my appointments this year. 



WEST AND NORTH-WEST. 69 



CHAPTER VI. 

It was some time in July that I went up to assist 
brother Harris of the Fishing Eiver circuit. It 
was the first camp meeting held on brother Baxter's 
camp-ground; near Liberty, about one hundred 
miles up the Missouri. Brother Harris and myself 
were the only Methodist preachers present; and we 
both preached and exhorted each in turn. The 
meeting grew in interest till Monday. I tried to 
preach on that day, and brother Harris was to 
preach a funeral sermon. When I closed, he com- 
menced giving out the hymn, 

"And am I born to die, 
To lay this body down ?" 

When he came to the second verse, 

** Soon as from earth I go. 
What will become of me?'* 

the power of the Almighty came down in such a 
wonderful manner as is seldom witnessed. Brother 
Harris fell back in the pulpit, overcome by the in- 
fluence of the Holy Spirit, and called upon me to 
invite the people forward for prayers. During my 
sermon I had noticed that one powerfully built man 
in the congregation was so filled with the power of 
God, that it was with difficulty he restrained his 
feelings ; now was the time for him to give vent to 



60 EARLY HISTORY OF THE 

his feelings, and his shouts of " Glory to God in the 
highest!" were such that the whole congregation 
seemed thrilled with the " power of God." It was 
as if a current of electricity ran through the 
assembly, setting on fire with the love of Jesus each 
soul in Divine presence. 

It was a memorable time. The whole camp- 
ground was convulsed, and the invitation was no 
sooner extended than the mourners came pouring 
forward in a body for prayers, till the altar was 
filled with weeping penitents. It was as if the 
shouts of his ''sacramental hosts were heard afar 
ofi*." The meeting continued that afternoon and all 
night. Late in the night I went to brother Bax- 
ter's house to get some rest; but the work was so 
urgent — sinners weeping all over the camp-ground — 
that I was sent for to come back and continue 
my exertions ; and there we wrestled, the Christian 
and the sinner, in one common interest, like Jacob 
of old, "till the break of day." On Tuesday 
morning scarcely a soul remained unconverted, or 
not seeking pardon. 

The next Friday my camp meeting commenced, 
and bid fair for a great good; till a preacher of 
another denomination, who craved our success, re- 
quested the privilege of preaching. He was at first 
denied, but he urged his request till I gave him 
liberty to speak on Sabbath evening. His words 
fell with such a dead weight on the congregation, 
and at the close of his sermon so little interest was 



WEST AND NORTH-WEST. 61 

felt, that we were obliged to close the meeting 
without the usual invitations. But on the following 
morning we laid hold of the work again. My faith 
was strong that we should succeed, and victory turn 
on Israel's side. A profane man, witnessing the 
spirit of the meeting, remarked with an oath that 
** Beggs was like to take the ground." Our meet- 
ing proved a blessing to the class and neighborhood. 

I finished my work here on this circuit by hold- 
ing a camp meeting. On my way to Conference I at- 
tended a camp meeting, held by E. T. Webster, on 
the St. Louis circuit. We had good preaching and 
a successful meeting. Leaving the camp-ground we 
staid over night with brother M'Alister, and the 
next night arrived at St. Louis. Here for the first 
time I saw Bishop Soule. 

Our Conference in 1824 was held at Padfield's, 
some twenty miles east of St. Louis. We had with 
us three Bishops — M'Kendree, Eoberts, and Soule. 
It was the first Conference I ever attended, and it 
was a very profitable time to me. By the act of 
the General Conference, held the previous May, the 
Illinois work was set off from the Missouri Confer- 
ence, which however met, agreeably to adjournment, 
at the same place. As the session possesses a his- 
torical interest, I shall give in this chapter an ac- 
count of its proceedings. After the introductory 
exercises, conducted by Bishop M'Kendree, who 
presided, the roll was called, and about a dozen 
brethren responded to their names. 



62 EARLY HISTORY OF THE 

Jesse Hale and William W. Kedman were appointed 
Stewards, and J. Dew, James Armstrong, and John 
Scripps were appointed a Committee to prepare mem- 
oirs of the deceased brethren. A resolution was in- 
troduced by the latter Committee, requesting Bishop 
Soule to preach on the camp-ground, at 11, A. M., 
October 24th, a funeral sermon, in memory of our 
much-revered father in Christ, William Beauchamp. 
Bishop Roberts then formally introduced Bishop 
Soule to the Conference, the members of which rose 
to receive him. The Committee also requested 
Bishop Eoberts to preach the funeral of brother 
Samuel Glaze in the afternoon of the same day. The 
Committee to examine candidates for admission into 
full membership consisted of brothers Thompson, 
Walker, Scripps, Armstrong, and Cord. The Bishop 
then informed the Conference that Peter Cartwright 
and Andrew Monroe, elders of the Kentucky Con- 
ference, had, by transfer, become members of this 
Conference; also, by transfer, Uriel Haw and Edwin 
Ray, deacons in the same Conference; also, brother 
R. J. Dungan, a member on trial. The President 
announced that the Conference could draw on the 
Book Fund for $150, and on the Chartered Fund 
for $80. 

The Conference then took up the question, ''Who 
remained on trial last year?" The following were 
examined and continued: Orsenath Fisher, Andrew 
Lopp, Edward Smith, James E. Johnson, William 
Shores, William Moore, John Miller, Benjamin S. 



WEST AND NORTH-WEST. 63 

Ashby, Joseph Edmondson, E,ucker Tanner. The 
characters of the deacons were then considered, and 
the following were examined and passed : David 
Chamberlin, Dennis Willey, Ebenezer T. Webster, 
James Bankson, John Glanville, John Blasdell. The 
morning session was concladed by prayer by J. 
Hale. At 2, P. M., the Conference was opened by 
Bishop Soule, who presided. The character of dea- 
cons was taken up, and William W. Eedman, H. Vre- 
denburg, George K. Hester, and William M'Rey- 
nolds were examined, approved, and elected. The 
following brethren were then, on recommendation, 
admitted: George Randle, Samuel Low, Daniel An- 
derson, James Garner, Jacob Varner, John Fish, 
Shadracli Casteel, Cassell Harrison, Green Orr, Gil- 
bert Clark. The stewards then called on the preach- 
ers for their claims and receipts, and Conference 
then adjourned, after prayer by brother Walker. 

At 9, A. M., Monday the 25th, brother Eoberts 
opened by prayer, Bishop Soule in the chair. The 
following brethren answered to their names : J. Wal- 
ker, Jesse Hale, S. H. Thompson, Thomas Wright, 
J. Scripps, J. Patterson. John Scripps was elected 
Secretary, on the nomination of brother Armstrong. 
Bishop M'Kendree then announced God's afflictive 
dispensation in the removal, by death, of our highly 
esteemed brethren in Christ, William Beauchamp 
and Samuel Glaze, accompanying the announcement 
with deeply interesting and affecting remarks. Dur- 
ing his remarks the Divine presence was sensibly felt. 



64 EARLY HISTORY OF THE 

After the singing of a suitable hymn, Bishops Soule 
and Roberts severally prayed. Proceeding to busi- 
ness, Bishop Roberts in the chair, S. H. Thompson 
and John Dew were appointed a Committee to super- 
intend Divine service. J. Scripps, Thomas Davis, 
John Harris, J. Cord, T. Medford, Thomas Rice, 
James Armstrong, J. L. Thompson, Jesse Green, 
A. Munroe, William W. Redman, H. Vredenburg, 
Davis Willey, E. T. Webster, James Bankson, J. 
Glanville, J. Blasdell, William M'Reynolds, U. Haw, 
E. Ray, Samuel Hull, character passed and elected 
deacons; S. R. Beggs, F. B. Leach, Cornelius Rud- 
dle, T. Randle, William H. Smith, Isaac N. Piggott, 
examined and approved; Deacon George Horn — 
transferred from the Tennessee Conference — examined 
and approved. Bishop M'Kendree then addressed the 
Conference on Missions. 

The afternoon session was opened with prayer by 
Jesse Hale, Bishop Roberts in the chair. The follow- 
ing brethren were examined and approved as elders : 
Walker, Thompson, Hall, Scripps, Wright, Patter- 
son, Harris, Davis, Cord, Stephenson, Sharp, Dew, 
Green, Cravens, (superannuated,) Medford, (located,) 
Armstrong, Thompson, Ruter, Hamilton, Delap, 
and Glaze, (deceased.) Richard Hargrave, who had 
traveled under the elder — Beauchamp, deceased — 
was, on recommendation, admitted. J. Scripps was 
superannuated. A resolution was passed requesting 
Bishop Roberts to furnish his funeral discourse — of 
Beauchamp — for publication. Jesse Walker, mission- 



WEST AND NORTH-WEST. 63 

ary of the Missouri Conference, reported in regard to 
his work among the Indians. On motion of brother 
Dew, brother Walker's mission was continued under 
the patronage of the Illinois Conference. 

At the afternoon session, Charlestown was fixed 
upon as the place of the next meeting of the Confer- 
ence, August 25th. The Missouri Conference was 
appointed to meet August 4th. On Tuesday morn- 
ing the Conference adjourned. 

The ninth session of the Illinois Conference was 
held September 5, 1832, Bishop Soule presiding. It 
had twenty-five members, of whom six are still living : 
Peter Cartwright, A. L. Kisley, John Vancleve, S. 
E. Beggs, Kobert Delap, J. S. Barger. I extract a 
curious item from the minutes of the tenth Illinois 
Conference, held at Union Grove, September 28, 
1833, Peter Cartwright in the chair. After prayer 
by Samuel Mitchell, the following resolution was 
introduced by brothers S. H. Thompson and Stith 
M. Otwell : '' That we, the members of the Illinois 
Conference, do agree to wear hereafter plain, straight- 
breasted coats." The yeas and nays were called, 
with the following result : Yeas — Taylor, M'Kean, 
Massey, Hadley, Fox, Mavity, Barger, Kobertson, 
Vancleve, Thompson, Kandle, James Walker, Deneen, 
Otwell, Beggs, Mitchell, Benson, Peter, Hale, Koyal, 
(21). Nays — French, Phelps, Cartwright, Eoylston, 
Sinclair, Trotter, Crawford, Fisher, Jesse Walker, 
Starr, Dew, (11). 

The ministers of that day held to plainness of 



66 EARLY HISTORY OF THE 

dress, botli for male and female, the straight coat 
and plain bonnet being insisted on by many. After 
a considerable debate, we agreed, before taking the 
above vote, to have brother Samuel Mitchell deliver 
an address on the plain, straight-breasted coat — old 
Methodist style. 

One of the voters for the straight coat was ap- 
pointed agent of M'Kendree College. In visiting 
some of the eastern and southern cities he for some 
reason changed the cut of his coat, and returned to 
Conference the next Fall in a frock-coat. The 
brothers were quite astonished, and must know the 
reason, as he had been among the most strenuous in 
contending for the straight coat. He took the op- 
portunity, a great many questions being asked, to 
explain to the Conference in a body. He said, ad- 
dressing Bishop Eoberts, who presided: "As a num- 
ber of the brethren have asked me my reasons for 
changing the cut of my coat, I wish to state that I 
have been reading Mr. Wesley on dress; and he 
does not fix upon any fashion or cut of coat, only 
let it be comfortable and plain. This frock-coat 
which I wear comes as near fulfilling that recom- 
mendation as any thing I can fix upon." The Bishop 
replied in his pleasant vein, telling the brother that 
he reminded him of a man who was made a Calvin- 
ist by reading Mr. Fletcher's writings. The anec- 
dote was so applicable, that the brother wished no 
further time for explanation, and retired amid a 
roar of lauditer. 



WEST AND NOBTH-WEST. 67 



CHAPTER VII. 

The Missouri Conference being divided, as stated 
in the last chapter, I was still continued in the 
Missouri division, and was appointed to Fishing 
Eiver circuit. There were eighteen preachers then 
stationed in the Missouri Conference. Jesse Hale 
was my presiding elder. Members returned, 143. 

It was a great trial for me to be absent another 
year from parents and friends. To visit them would 
necessitate a ride of six hundred miles, and I should 
then be three hundred miles from my circuit. Win- 
ter was close at hand. I made it a subject of prayer, 
and, after many tears and struggles, resolved to 
give up all for the Master's sake. In company with 
brother Benjamin Ashby, I set my face westward. 
We journeyed on together very pleasantly, some- 
times preaching in the evening when an opportunity 
offered. . 

One evening, having found a resting-place rather 
earlier than usual, we sent out runners to call the 
people together for evening service. We soon had 
a house full, and it was decided that brother Ashby 
should preach and I exhort, as was the custom in 
those days. Being exceedingly weary, and having 
a comfortable seat, I soon fell asleep. Brother Ashby 's 
voice failed him in the midst of his discourse and 



68 EAELY HISTORY OF THE 

he called upon me. Some one who sat near had 
been kind enough to awaken me, and after rubbing 
my eyes I took his place, supposing he had finished 
his sermon. I told them I supposed they had heard 
enough from the preacher if they would improve it ; 
yet, if they would bear with me, I would exhort 
for a short time. Very soon there seemed to be a 
deep interest felt, and loud responses of "Amen" 
were heard, and from the "amens" the responses 
arose to a shout. Many were greatly blessed, and 
it was an occasion of benefit to all. 

After brother Ashby left me I was almost alone 
till I reached my circuit. I had scarcely commenced 
my labor, when a deep snow fell. My appointments 
were far apart; the country new; the roads often 
blind, or, worse, none at all, so that it was very 
hard getting back and forth from the stations. My 
circuit extended about seventy miles along the Mis- 
souri Eiver, embracing some of the settlements 
west of the State line. I crossed the river twice 
in every journey, and once on a bridge of boards 
thrown across two canoes. 

My quarterage this year was twenty-three dollars. 
My clothing that I had brought from home was by 
this time so nearly worn out that it was necessary 
to replace it with new. Some of the sisters spun 
wool, and made me a coat of blue and white cotton, 
a pair of white cotton pants, and one of mixed. 
One of the brothers gave me his old hat, which I 
got pressed, and then I was fitted out for Confer- 



WEST AND NORTH-WEST. 69 

ence. It was held on the fourth of August, 1825, 
at Bailey's meeting-house, Sabine Creek, Missouri. 
The weather was very warm and the roads dusty, 
and, by the time I had reached my journey's end, 
my new coat had changed from its original color to 
a dusty brown. There were, however, kind hands 
and willing hearts who soon set me to rights. Un- 
der the combined influence of soa,p and water my 
coat came out as good as new, and, thanks to the 
"Marthas" of modern times, 'Svho care for many 
things," I appeared in the Conference room next 
morning, looking quite respectable. 

During the Conference, Bishop Roberts requested 
all the preachers who wished any private conversa- 
tion with him to stay behind; I was among several 
who had requests to make, and when my time came 
to speak, I asked for a transfer to the Illinois Con- 
ference. My request was granted, and I started on 
a journey to Charlestown, Indiana, where the Con- 
ference met this year. On my way, I fell in with 
Samuel H. Thompson and Jesse Walker, at a camp 
meeting near Padfield's, and a most glorious time we 
had there. On our way, near Mount Carmel, Illi- 
nois, we attended another camp meeting, and the 
gracious outpouring of the Spirit converted many 
souls, and quickened the believers. The meeting 
closed, and we journeyed on, reaching Conference the 
first day after its session. I was then within five 
miles of my father's house. My parents and family 
were all at the Conference, but attending Divine 



70 EARLY HISTOEY OF THE 

service at Churcli. On hearing of my arrival, after 
two years of absence, they all left the meeting, and 
ran to greet the long-absent son. It was like the 
meeting of Joseph and his brethren. Weary and 
worn by sickness, with my travel-stained garments, 
they hardly recognized me. 

After resting a few days, and receiving from my 
father a better suit of clothes, I started for my new 
circuit at Kushville, John Strange presiding elder. 
It lay mostly on Blue Eiver, and east to Greens- 
burg. This was a four weeks' circuit ; appointments 
scattered over a large and thinly settled country, 
with mud and high water, at some seasons of the 
year almost impassable. The principal villages were 
Bushville, Greensburg, New Castle, West Liberty — 
now Knightstown — and Shelbyville. At the three 
last-named places, we had a good work, especially 
at West Liberty. Twenty or thirty of the leading 
inhabitants were converted and joined the Church. 
We held a camp meeting under the charge of the 
presiding elder, near West Liberty. Brother Strange 
preached at the opening of the meeting, and, in one 
of his prophetic and electrifying strains, told us that 
God would convert many souls then within hearing 
of his voice. Saturday, in the afternoon, he arose 
to advertise the order of exercises; and, seemingly 
without intention, began to exhort. One thought 
led to another, and in a very few minutes the whole 
encampment was trembling and crying. Several 
souls were happily converted to God ; and from this 



WEST AND NORTH-WEST. 71 

to the close of the meeting we had a succession of 
conversions, some of which were most powerful 
and clear; many of the believers were quickened 
with such blessings of full salvation that its fruits 
may be seen at the present day. My last quarterly 
meeting was also a camp meeting, and we had a sea- 
son long to be remembered. 

I seldom left a circuit where the people seemed 
more unwilling to give me up. This year I attended 
four camp meetings — two on my own — one in 
Connersville circuit, and the other one mile east of 
Indianapolis. This was on my way to Conference. 
John Strange, James Havens, and others, with my- 
self, were the preachers. what a blessing we 
received! The meeting, closed on Monday, with 
many converts. 

On our way to Bloomington, where Conference 
was to sit that year, as Strange and myself were 
riding along together, a stranger rode up by my 
side, and in conversation with us soon found out 
that we were preachers. Our plain coats, saddle- 
bags, and other equipage might have told him that. 
He turned to me and said, '' Your name is Strange?" 
" No !" said I, turning to my companion, '' that is 
the Eev. Mr. Strange." He seemed a little con- 
fused at his mistake, and had no more to say to 
me, but addressed his conversation to brother 
Strange. 

This year our members numbered two hundred 
and eight. Bishops Eoberts and Soule were with 



72 EARLY HISTORY OF THE 

US, and our Conference was exceedingly pleasant and 
profitable to me. John Strange was a man of sur- 
passing personal beauty, eloquence, and piety. Once, 
at the close of the sermon, he administered the sac- 
rament. After a most impressive introduction, he 
was greatly annoyed by some boys throwing nut- 
shells over the floor. Starting suddenly, as if awak- 
ening from a reverie, he said, *'Did I say Christ was 
the Son of God? He is, to the humble, penitent 
believer; but to you" — pointing with his long fin- 
ger toward the young men — " to you, sinner, arouse 
him, and he is the Lion of the tribe of Judah ; and, 
by the slightest exertion of his power, could dash 
you deeper in damnation than a sunbeam can fly in 
a million of ages!" The effect was awful; the 
transition from the gentle and pathetic to the ter- 
rible was so unexpected that one of the young men 
afterward said that he felt his hair raise on end at 
the imagination of himself going with the velocity of 
thought toward the doleful regions. The leader of 
the disturbers is still living, and is a worthy mem- 
ber of the Church in Lafayette. 

This ended the year 1826. At the Conference 1 
received my appointment to Vincennes circuit, 
Charles Holliday presiding elder. I had -a labori- 
ous year. The circuit lay one hundred miles along 
the Wabash River. Samuel Cooper was my assist- 
ant, supplied by the presiding elder. Our stations 
consisted of all the principal towns from Vincennes 
up to Cole Creek. 



WEST AND NORTH-WEST. 73 

This year I attended four camp meetings. One 
of them was my own, and a precious time we had. 
On Sabbath afternoon Joseph Oglesby preached a 
most powerful sermon from the words, '' The Master 
is come, and calleth for thee." No words of mine 
could do the sermon justice. It seemed as if every 
sentence uttered was a direct inspiration from on 
high. It was the eloquence of the Holy Ghost, and 
it came with power. I felt that I could not preach 
for a week afterward. 

This year we had efficient help from the local 
preachers, J. M. Baker, Samuel Hull, and Hugh Eoss, 
all good preachers; the two former having served 
in the ranks of the itinerancy. We had several re- 
vivals this year, some unpleasant occurrences also. 
At a watch-night meeting, held at Carlyle, some 
graceless scamps shaved the tail of brother Coop- 
er's horse, and, to add to our mortification, followed 
us with derisive shouts, as we were passing out of 
town. This year I came nearer getting my quar- 
terage than any previous one. It amounted to near 
ninety dollars. The membership numbered 442. I 
found brother HoUiday, my presiding elder, a great 
help in establishing me in the work of holiness of 
heart. What a man of God was he! A Methodist 
preacher in very truth. I am afraid I should have 
gone astray had he not held me to the virtue of 
wearing plain apparel. 

Our Conference was held this year, 1827, at Mt. 
Carmel, Illinois. I was one among the forty preachers 



74 EAELY HISTORY OF THE 

who left Vincennes to attend Conference. Bishop 
Roberts presided, and we had a pleasant and prof- 
itable session. John Strange preached one of the 
most powerful sermons here that I ever heard from 
him or fr 'm any one. Several older preachers re- 
marked that he excelled even himself, and it was 
said by those capable of judging, that he was more 
eloquent than Henry Bascom. His text was, " Be- 
hold, I send you forth as sheep among wolves." To 
those of us who had taken our lives in our hands, 
and gone forth as pioneers in the wilderness to 
preach the Word of God, the text came home to our 
very hearts, and, more especially, when it was so 
ably dwelt upon by one who had shared our perils. 
The leading preachers at that time were Strange, 
Calvin Enter, A. Wiley, Jas. Armstrong, Peter Cart- 
wright, S. H. Thompson, A. Wood, Eichard Har- 
grave, 0. Holliday, S. C. Cooper, and Jesse Walker. 



WEST AND NORTH-WEST. 76 



CHAPTER VIII. 

The next year, 1828, I was sent to Wayne circuit, 
on which Kichmond and Centerville were the prin- 
cipal towns. My circuit bordered on the Ohio State 
line. William Evans was my colleague, and John 
Strange my presiding elder. This was a four weeks' 
circuit, and in it I preached nearly every day, and 
often twice a day. I found here some as devout 
Christians as I ever met, and often took encourage- 
ment by their holy walk and godly conversation. It 
was here, also, that I fell into doubts, and for six 
months there hung a deep gloom over my mind. I 
think that if ever I labored to save souls it was 
during this great darkness and fearful struggle with 
the archenemy. This struggle continued till I vis- 
ited my parents, in Clark county, Indiana. Here, 
one evening while retiring for secret prayer in the 
old familiar place where I had wrestled many hours 
in prayer to God, I passed through another great 
struggle, and the day dawned, the clouds broke 
away, my sky became clear. For six months my 
peace was like a river, and I still lived an expectant 
of a better world. 

This year I held a protracted meeting in Eich- 
mond, assisted by some of the local preachers. We 
were very successful. Some of the Quakers joined 



76 EARLY HISTORY OF THE 

US, and the children of infidel parents were soundly- 
converted to God. Here I administered the rite of 
baptism in Whitewater — the first time, at that point, 
that the waters of the forest stream had ever served 
that holy purpose. 

Brother William C. Smith gives a full account of 
this meeting, which he introduces with a reference 
to the prosperity that attended my labors on the 
circuit at large. Now that a two days' meeting 
was announced for Kichmond, he says, the attention 
of the people generally turned in that direction. A 
Methodist meeting was something new to most of 
the citizens, and created no little excitement, partly 
because they were curious to know what it would 
be like, and partly because these ''hireling preach- 
ers" were about to disturb the quiet of the place. 
Some were anxious to keep the people from attend- 
ing, and others to see the great sight. The meet- 
ing was held in the brick school-house on the public 
square. 

When the time appointed arrived the Methodists 
came in from different parts of the circuit. Mr. 
Beggs and two or three other local preachers were 
in attendance. At their first coming together there 
was a very good congregation, and an excellent ser- 
mon was preached — one that stirred the hearts of 
the people to their very depths, and kindled anew 
the holy fire. At the close of the sermon the tide 
of feeling was running so high that the songs and 
shouts of the congregation were heard at quite a 



WEST AND NOETH-WEST. 77 

distance. This increased the excitement in the town, 
and at night the school-house was crowded. The 
Holy Ghost attended the Word that was preached, 
and also the exhortations that followed. An invita- 
tion was extended, and five or six presented them- 
selves as seekers of salvation. This was a strange 
sight to many in the house. The pious gathered 
around the penitents, singing and praying till a 
late hour. 

On Sunday morning a love-feast was held, and it 
was a time of great power and of religious enjoy- 
ment. At its close there was an invitation given to 
those that wished to unite with the Church. Sev- 
eral came forward. Among the number were three 
sisters, the Misses K., belonging to one of the first 
families in the town. Their father was rather in- 
clined to infidelity. He had taken great pains to 
educate and prepare his daughters to move in the 
first circles in society, not dreaming that they would 
ever become Methodists. When the young ladies 
came forward some evil-designing person on the out- 
side, who saw through the window what was going 
on within, hastened to Mr. K. and told him that the 
Methodists had got his daughters befooled, and that 
they were acting disreputably, lying prostrate upon 
the floor, etc. This statement, of course, exasper- 
ated Mr. K. very highly, and he immediately made 
his way to the school-house where the love-feast was, 
and demanded admittance. The door-keepers, not 
knowing who he was, refused to let him enter. He 



78 EARLY HISTORY OF THE 

forced open the door, and went in trembling witli 
rage. Going to where his daughters sat weeping, he 
took them by the hand and led them away. As 
they were going out the prayer, in subdued tones, 
Lord, have mercy on their souls, was heard in sev- 
eral places in the congregation. When they reached 
home with their father, and explained to him that 
all that they had done was to unite with the Church, 
he, upon learning the deception which had been prac- 
ticed upon him, at once led them back to the school- 
house, and to the seat whence he had taken them. 
He then went to Kev. Mr. Beggs, and requested him 
to make an explanation of his course and offer an 
apology for him that morning to the public. He 
remained to hear the sermon, and at its close asked 
the preacher home to dine with him. He expressed 
an entire willingness, since it was the wish of his 
daughters, that they should become members of the 
Methodist Episcopal Church. They did so, and have 
long been pious and influential members. Thus Sa- 
tan was thwarted in his design, and preaching con- 
tinued for some time, resulting in much good. 

At the close of these meetings there were several 
applicants for the rite of baptism ; some wished for 
pouring, others for sprinkling, and one wished to 
be immersed. As we went down to the stream for 
the purpose of baptism, it was just at the close of 
a quarterly meeting held by the Quakers. Some of 
them were on their way home, and had to cross the 
stream just below the place which I had chosen for 



WEST AND NORTH-WEST. 79 

the rite. They stopped in the stream to witness 
the sight, it being the first that had ever taken 
place in that region. Some of the young Quaker 
boys ran, whooped, and hallooed as if they were go- 
ing to a fair. So great was the curiosity of the 
people, that they had collected by hundreds at the 
water's edge, and stood from fifteen to twenty deep 
along shore. One man took up a large boy and 
waded several feet into the water, that he might 
have a better view. As I was leading the sister 
out, I found that this man had roiled the water, 
and I asked him to change his position; he did so 
by going farther into the stream. After the im- 
mersion, the sister came out, shouting and praising 
the Lord. 

As an instance of the rudeness of the times, I 
heard, mingled with these sounds, also the shouts of 
laughter from some of the bystanders ; and on turn- 
ing to see from whence they came, I discovered that 
the man in the water had made a misstep, and had 
with his boy fallen backward into the water; I 
waved my hand, and all were quiet, but none seemed 
sorry. 

We closed this year with a powerful union camp 
meeting. The preachers present were John Strange 
and James B. Finley, presiding elders; George Mal- 
lory, Thomas L. Hitt, and others. The Lord was 
present, and we felt his power to arouse sinners 
to conviction and to grant them pardoning mercy. 
The meeting proved a great blessing to the circuit. 



80 EAELY HISTORY OF THE 

Near the close of this year I was brought very 
low, by a violent attack of bilious fever; and when 
my life was despaired of I was visited by brother 
Strange, who prayed with us, and for me especially. 
I dated my recovery from that day; and when I 
met brother Strange at Madison, in the Conference 
room, he grasped my hand and said, '' There is no. 
man on the Conference floor whom it gives me 
greater joy to meet than you." It was no less a 
matter of rejoicing to me that I had been spared; 
that another year's labor had closed; that I had been 
faithful to my calling, in the midst of my trials 
and afflictions, and that I could yet look to Jesus 
for my exceeding great reward. Brother Eoberts 
presided in his usual pleasant and agreeable man- 
ner, very much to the satisfaction of all present. 
In order to prepare us for our different fields of 
labor, he addressed us in a solemn and impressive 
manner, which I shall never forget. The whole 
Conference was in tears, and every man seemed 
ready for any field of labor that, in God's good 
providence, might be assigned to him. 



WEST AND NORTH-WEST. 81 



CHAPTER IX. 

This year, 1829, I was sent to the Crawfordsville 
circuit, brother Strange presiding elder. I soon 
reached my field of labor, and commenced in truth 
to be a successful Methodist minister. I was alone 
in the work on a four weeks' circuit, which em- 
braced the following towns, in the order given : 
Crawfordsville and Lafayette; from thence to Del- 
phi and on to Logansport; once out to Fort Wayne, 
and back to Attica; then down to Portland and 
Covington. My general health was good, although 
I was confined for about three weeks in Crawfords- 
ville with chills and fever. Lafayette was very 
new at that time, having only five brethren and a 
class of twenty members. We had several revivals, 
one especially in Crawfordsville, where I was assisted 
by brother James Armstrong. 

This revival gave a new impetus to Methodism 
in that place, which was for some time afterward 
the prevailing denomination in the town. Our camp 
meeting was also a success. Strange, Armstrong, 
and others were present. The object of our preach- 
ing was to convert souls, and our brethren were 
mighty in prayer. The result was that convictions 
followed fast upon each other, till its close. I left 
in company with brother Armstrong on the way 



82 EAELY HISTORY OF THE 

to Conference, which was to be held at Edwards- 
ville, Madison county, Illinois, September 18, 1829. 
We soon met with other preachers, and before 
we reached Conference our company increased to 
twenty. We journeyed together three hundred 
miles on horseback, and enjoyed our ride very much. 
Traveling in those days had many pleasant features, 
but sometimes those which were not so pleasant. 

At one place where we staid over night, our 
horses were fed upon oats, mixed with castor beans. 
The result was that several of them were sick and 
unfit for use the next morning. We hired what 
horses could be obtained, and used some of ours 
that were sick, and at last found ourselves at Con- 
ference safe, and in good time. We were very 
pleasantly entertained, and a more agreeable com- 
pany of brethren I have seldom met than those at 
the Conference at Edwardsville ; Bishop Soule pre- 
sided, and did so most acceptably. On Sabbath 
morning he preached a very excellent sermon. 
John Strange and James Armstrong followed in the 
afternoon. Their efibrts were attended with great 
power. While Strange was preaching, the congre- 
gation almost involuntarily arose to their feet, and 
shouted ''Halleluiah!" till their deafening hosan- 
nas almost drowned the voice of the preacher. He 
was in turn affected by their enthusiasm, and sat 
down, shouting ''Glory to God in the highest!" At 
this session a collection of one hundred dollars was 
taken up for superannuated preachers. 



WEST AND NORTH-WEST. 83 

From this Conference I was sent to Logansport 
mission, embracing Lafayette, Delphi, and Logans- 
port. With this charge I had an appropriation of 
fifty dollars missionary money. I remained here till 
the first quarterly meeting, and then my presiding 
elder, J. Strange, removed me to Bloomington cir- 
cuit. I had Jesse Hale for my colleague. We had a 
prosperous year, and a number of conversions. We 
visited several camp meetings, every-where meeting 
with great success. It was a four weeks' circuit, 
and numbered seven hundred and eight members. 
We came nearer getting our quarterage than we 
ever had since I began my labor, each receiving 
one hundred dollars. We left here, I trust, with 
seals to our ministry and spiritual profit to our 
souls. 

Our next Annual Conference was held at Vin- 
cennes. Bishop Roberts was taken sick at St. Louis. 
S. H. Thompson and Peter Cartwright were pres- 
idents pro tern. The Conference was very pleas- 
ant, and ended in a manner very satisfactory to all 
of the brethren. I was sent to the Tazewell cir- 
cuit. After spending a few days with my parents 
I started for my circuit, in company with A. E. 
Phelps. Our circuits joined each other, and lay 
on the Sangamon Eiver. We were in good time for 
our work, and during the year had several pleasant 
interviews. Mine was a four weeks' circuit, and 
very laborious. There were twenty-eight appoint- 
ments, including a distance of more than three 



84: EARLY HISTORY OF THE 

hundred miles travel. "We had a most delightful 
Fall, which lasted till near Christmas. 

The most prominent places were Peoria, Hollen's 
Grove, now Washington ; Mud Creek, Walnut 
Grove, Mackinaw Town, Stout's Grove, Dry Grove, 
Blooming Grove, now Bloomington ; Randolph Grove, 
Big Grove, Cherry Grove; from thence down Salt 
Creek to the Falling Timber country ; brother Beck's 
on Sugar Creek, Hittle's Grove, and Dillon's, where 
I had two appointments; from there I went to 
Grand Prairie; from thence to several neighbor- 
hoods, and back to Peoria. 

On Christmas eve there was a most fearful snow- 
storm. The snow fell to the depth of three feet, so 
that the remainder of the season my labors were 
confined to the western part of the circuit. In 
many places there were immense drifts, and the 
snow was so crusted that it was impassable. It 
was March before the snow went off, and then the 
heavy rains, added to the snow, caused such a 
freshet as had seldom been known in that region. 

We had a few conversions during the Winter, and 
the members were much revived. This year was 
one of special interest to me. As usual, there was 
a young lady selected as suitable for the minister's 
wife, and such she proved in very truth. Brother 
William Heath, a brother-in-law of Rev. Samuel 
Hamilton, of the Ohio Conference, had lately settled 
in Hollen's Grove. It was to his daughter that my 
attention was directed. I brought her an undivided 



WEST AND NORTH-WEST. 85 

affection, for I had never proposed marriage before. 
I had traveled nine years on the circuit, and often 
in loneliness. She consented to share with me the 
toils of an itinerant life, and on the 1st day of Sep- 
tember, 1831, we were joined in marriage by Eev. 
Jesse Hale. 

It is a saying that "to every man there is one 
good woman." My wife has proved so to me. For 
thirty-five years we journeyed on life's pathway to- 
gether, and each succeeding year grew happier in 
each other's love. I thank Qod for the helpmeet he 
gave me. Would that she had lived to bless all the 
remaining years of my life as she did those that are 
past! From the pleasant picture of home-life I must 
turn once more in my narrative — as I did in reality 
in the years gone by — to the scenes of my labors. 

The year was a prosperous one. Our members 
numbered two hundred and fifty-two. Peter Cart- 
wright was my presiding elder. We closed the 
year, as usual, with a camp meeting. 

Mrs. Beggs accompanied me to Conference this 
year, which was held at Indianapolis. It was a long 
and tedious ride for a woman to perform on horse- 
back, and we were also to ride one hundred miles 
beyond to visit at my father's. We remained there 
but a few days, and then started north-west for a 
three-hundred-mile ride to my father-in-law's, near 
Peoria. The evening before we arrived at Washing- 
ton we had to cross Mackinaw Piver. Not having 
been apprised of its depth, we ventured in, and 



86 EARLY HISTORY OF THE 

found ourselves in very deep water. It was up to 
the horse's back, and we were both thoroughly- 
wetted. When we got to the opposite bank we 
found it to be about five feet high, and it was im- 
possible for the horses to get up. I climbed up and 
secured a strong limb, which I placed along side the 
horse. My wife then reached me her hand, and, 
with my help, succeeded in climbing up this limb 
till she reached the bank. "Perils by sea and per- 
ils by land." I then led the horses some distance 
up the stream, till they could land. We remounted, 
and had before us a ride of fifteen miles ere we 
reached my father-in-law's. We arrived there wet 
and tired, yet thanked God that we were safe, and 
took courage for further efibrts in this great cause. 
This year I received my appointment to Chicago 
mission station. In July of the previous Summer I 
had attended two camp meetings — one at Cedar 
Point, and the other at Plainfield. They were both 
successful, the one at Plainfield especially so. From 
this latter place father Walker and myself started 
for Chicago, about forty miles distant. When we 
arrived brother Walker gave out an appointment 
for me to preach in the garrison, in old Dr. Har- 
mon's room. After the sermon was over he gave it 
out that I was to preach again next morning at nine 
o'clock ; and this was the beginning of a happy time 
here. I opened the door for the reception of mem- 
bers, and I think ten joined the Church. Among 
the number were brother Lee and wife, and Elijah 



WEST AND NOETH-WEST. 87 

Wentworth, with his mother and two sisters. We 
formed a class of these few members, and it was 
this class, the first ever formed in Chicago, that now 
awaited me at my new appointment. 

I commenced my work here alone, and the pros- 
pect seemed gloomy enough. The garrison consisted 
of two or three frame houses, and some huts occu- 
pied by the French and Indians. This, only about 
twenty-five years from the time I now write, was 
all that there was of our now mighty city. Some 
changes had taken place since the preceding Sum- 
mer, and on my arrival I felt somewhat encouraged. 
Several families had moved in — father Nobles, with 
a wife and two daughters, Colonel Eichard Hamilton 
and wife, and Dr. Harmon Irwin, a son of the above- 
mentioned, with his wife. There were six more 
members added to my class. 

I remained here preaching nearly seven weeks be- 
fore I could obtain any accommodations for my fam- 
ily, and then went back to my father-in-law's after 
Mrs. Beggs. It was the middle of January, 1832. 
It will be difficult to those of my readers who never 
braved the perils of pioneer life to realize how great 
were the hardships of the first settlers, and among 
these there were not many who passed through more 
toil and discomfort than the Methodist itinerant; 
and yet there are veterans in the cause who are still 
living, and rejoicing that God gave them the privi- 
lege, in their younger days, of laboring for him. 
Now that the fields are all white, and the harvest is 



88 EAELY HISTORY OF THE 

ready, we forget past toils in the joyful present, and 
count ourselves blessed that we are still laborers. 
. But let me return to my perilous journey. It 
was just after the January thaw, and we had mud 
and ice, high waters and no bridges, and long dis- 
tances between houses, which made my journey of 
one hundred and forty miles very tedious and diffi- 
cult. I had traveled some distance, and was still 
thirty-five miles from Washington, now Magnolia. I 
had but two biscuits in my pocket, and, as the be- 
ginning of a hard day's journey, was obliged to swim 
Sandy Creek. My next obstruction was Crow Creek. 
At the old ford there was so much water and ice 
that I was obliged to ride up the stream for a num- 
ber of miles over the open prairie. I crossed several 
of the largest branches, and was congratulating my- 
self that I had conquered my greatest difficulties. I 
was shaping my course toward Washington, when I 
came to the main branch. Here the water was low, 
but it had frozen hard to the very bottom. The 
thaw had caused the water to overflow the ice to the 
depth of three feet. This water had also frozen 
over, but not hard enough to bear up my horse on 
the new-made ice. He broke through the ice at the 
top, and also at the bottom of the stream. After 
making several fruitless attempts to cross, I again 
rode out on the prairie. I rode on and on till I lost 
sight of timber and of my course, out on the sea of 
open prairie without a compass or a guide. 

It was cloudy and cold, and near night. I must 



WEST AND NOKTH-WEST. 89 

either cross the river or lie out all night upon 
Grand Prairie. I chose the former, and attempted 
to cross at the risk of being swamped in the mud 
and ice. I broke the ice as well as I could to about 
the middle of the stream, when the under ice gave 
way, and down went my horse, throwing me off at 
one side. This broke the surface ice around the 
horse, and also in front of him; I then gave him the 
word, and he struggled nobly, bringing me out upon 
the right side without any serious injury. I was 
well drenched. I took off my boots, and emptied 
the water out of them, and wrung out my socks, 
and the skirts of my overcoat. It was very cold, 
yet I mounted my horse, thanked God for my 
safety^ and took courage, although I still had great 
obstacles before me. It was still cloudy, and there 
was no road and no timber in sight. The sailor 
out of sight of land, with no compass, is no more at 
loss than is one on the open prairie where no shrub, 
or tree, or dim speck in the distant horizon is to 
be seen. 

I was in greater straits than ever. I did not 
know what direction to take, and there was no time 
to be lost; I started, and soon found myself on a 
slight elevation of prairie; from this point I could 
at a great distance discover a patch of timber, and 
I directed my course toward it. After riding till 
a late hour in the night I reached the timber, and 
found there a small farm inclosed by a fence. I 
took down the rails and rode through, where I found 

8 



90 EAELY HISTORY OF THE 

stacks of wheat and straw. After vainly searching 
for more evidences of a human habitation, I con- 
cluded to make the best of my situation, and pass 
the night there with what comfort I could. I fed 
my horse some of the wheat, and in my frozen 
clothes lay down in the straw. I remained here 
but a short time, when I recollected the apostle's 
advice, that ''bodily exercise is profitable." I re- 
sorted to violent exercise, in order to bring my 
blood into circulation, and then lay down in the 
straw again; I kept this up all night. 

In the morning my prospects brightened; I heard 
some one calling hogs, and, homely as was the sound, 
it was a most welcome one. I saw some one on the 
opposite side of a creek, and called out to him. I 
learned that this stream was Panther Creek, and 
that I was twenty miles from Washington. He 
asked me where I had staid over night, and I told 
him, and also the liberty I had taken in feeding my 
horse. He said the stacks were his, and that it 
was '' all right." He then told me that I must ride 
three miles up the creek, where I would find a bridge, 
and that by the time I came down again I would 
find some breakfast prepared for me. It was a wel- 
come sound; for I had eaten nothing for twenty- 
four hours, except those two biscuits. My break- 
fast was a feast, for I brought to it the best of 
sauces as a relish — a good appetite. It was as 
great a joy to those early settlers to welcome a 
stranger to their board, was it as to the hungry 



WEST AND NORTH-WEST. 91 

traveler to partake of their hospitality. May God's 
blessing rest on him and his for his kindness that 
morning ! 

I thanked him, and attended morning devotions. 
The thanks and the prayers of the Methodist min- 
ister in those days always settled the reckoning 
with their hosts. I mounted my horse, who had 
also shared the hospitalities with me, and was soon 
well on my way to Washington. On reaching Wal- 
nut Creek I found I must swim it, and also many 
other smaller streams before I reached my father-in- 
law's. I was much comforted to find them all well, 
and Mrs. Beggs impatient to join me even in my 
arduous labors. I remained here but a few days, 
and had my scanty effects packed on a sled. 

Having a good snow we reached the Big Vermil- 
ion late in the evening; it was too high to ford; 
and being nearly opposite the house of Martin Eey- 
nolds, I shouted at the top of my voice, till I made 
myself heard. He soon came down to our relief with 
his sled and horses. We traveled down the stream, 
he on one side and I on the other. At last we 
found a place on the ice, where we ventured to meet. 
With certain precautions we attempted to cross on 
the ice. I took the rails of our old-fashioned bed- 
stead, and by walking on one while I shoved the 
other along in front of us, we at last found ourselves 
safely landed on the other side. After having a 
comfortable night's rest, we went back in the morn- 
ing to see to the horses and look after my effects. 



92 EARLY HISTORY OF THE 

As we were crossing in a canoe, we came very near 
being capsized ; and in case we liad been, we should 
have been drowned. But God in his good provi- 
dence saw fit to spare us for further labors. I took 
my goods back about five miles, and left them till 
the roads should become passable. I staid at brother 
Reynolds's a few days; and in the mean time walked 
over to Ottowa, a village about twelve miles dis- 
tant, where I preached a sermon. After this I again 
went after my horses and goods, and brought them 
to the river-side once more, in hopes to get them 
across. We did so by making a bridge sixteen feet 
in length, which reached from the river's edge to 
the ice in the middle of the stream. I ran them 
across the ice by means of a hand-sled, and brother 
Eeynolds with his team moved them up to Ottowa. 
Brother Green took them farther on the way to his 
house; and there they remained till the next Spring. 

To give some idea how the early settlers lived, I 
will tell the reader of our fare while at brother 
Eeynolds's, and how we obtained it. There was no 
flour to be had, and no mills for grinding. Our corn, 
of which we had great plenty, had to be pounded 
in a mortar. The only pestle we had was made by 
driving an iron wedge into a stick, which served for 
a handle. 

While going from brother Green's to Plainfield 
we were overtaken by a storm of rain and sleet, 
which made the ground literally one sheet of ice. 
The horse which Mrs. Beggs rode had no shoes. 



WEST AND NORTH-WEST. 93 

When we reached Platteville the creek was swollen 
so high that it could not be crossed at that point. 
Brother Keed, who was with us, managed to get 
across, but judged it was not safe for us to attempt 
it. So we traveled, he on one side and ourselves on 
the other, some distance along the stream, till at last 
we found a crossing-place. The storm continued till 
we reached Plainfield. I was fearful the exposure 
would cost Mrs. Beggs her life. It was several 
weeks before she recovered, and then not entirely, 
from the effects of her stormy ride. There was yet 
no room to be had in Chicago, and it was thought 
best for my wife to remain at Plainfield till the en- 
suing Spring, while I kept up my appointments 
till May. 



94 EARLY HISTOEY OF THE 



CHAPTER X. 

Jesse Walker was superintendent of the mission 
work from Peoria to Chicago, and also had a nom- 
inal appointment at Chicago. His labors, however, 
were so extensive that he preached here but a few 
times during the year. Brother Walker was not 
able to attend Conference, held in Indianapolis, in 
1831. After consulting me, to know if I was will- 
ing to take charge of the mission at Chicago, to 
which I consented if Conference should so decide, he 
wrote to Bishop Koberts to appoint me to that work. 
So this was my home for the coming year, and I 
hastened to take charge of the little class I had 
formed a few months previous. I found them all 
standing fast in the liberty of the Gospel. 

Our meetings were generally held in the fort, and 
they increased in interest till our first quarterly 
meeting, which was held in January, 1832. I had 
been helping brother Walker hold some meetings at 
Plainfield, and we left there on one of the coldest 
days of that Winter for my quarterly meeting at 
Chicago. It was thirty miles to the first house. 
Brother T. B. Clark started with us with an ox team, 
for the purpose of carrying provisions to help sustain 
the people in Chicago during the meeting. Provi- 
sions were very scarce here at that time. Late in 



WEST AND NORTH-WEST. 95 

the evening we became alarmed lest he had perished 
in the cold, and went out on a fruitless hunt after 
him. He arrived, at eleven o'clock that night, at 
our stopping-place. The next day saw us all safely 
in Chicago, where we met with a warm reception 
from brother Lee and family. 

Here, to-day, amid the presence of this great and 
prosperous city, let us reconsider our humble begin- 
nings. Thirty-six years ago a load of provisions was 
brought by an ox team from the village of Plainfield 
to sustain the friends that met here for a quarterly 
meeting ! The meeting commenced with power, and 
increased in interest till Sunday morning. My first 
sermon was preached on Sabbath morning at ten 
o'clock, after which brother Walker invited the peo- 
ple around the sacramental board. It was a season 
long to be remembered. Every one seemed to be 
baptized and consecrated anew to the great work to 
be accomplished in the village that was destined to 
become a mighty city. 

Jesse Walker was my successor in 1832. He 
moved his family up to Chicago as soon as possible, 
and set to work. I attended his first quarterly 
meeting; it was held in an old log school-liousei 
which served for a parsonage, parlor, kitchen, and] 
audience-room. The furniture consisted of an old! 
box stove, with one griddle, upon which we cooked. 
We boiled our tea-kettle, cooked what few vegeta- 
bles we could get, and fried our meat, each in its 
turn. Our table was an old wooden chest; and 



96 EARLY HISTORY OF THE 

when dinner was served up we surrounded the 
board and ate with good appetites, asking no ques- 
tions for conscience' sake. Dyspepsia, that more 
modern refinement, had not found its way to our 
settlements. We were too earnest and active to in- 
dulge in such a luxury. Indeed, our long rides and 
arduous labors were no friends to such a visitant. 
This palatial residence, which served as the Chicago 
>il parsonage, was then situated between Kandolph and 
SbWashington streets, the first block west of the river. 
»' The Winter previous I had purchased a claim, 
the only title to be had. Then I paid three hundred 
dollars for a claim upon two hundred and forty acres, 
eighty of which was covered with timber land, por- 
tions of which to-day sell for one hundred dollars 
per acre. My aim then was to secure a home, when 
the time should come that I could no longer travel 
on the itinerant work, which I had laid out as the 
business of my life while health and strength re- 
mained. The Lord prospered me in my purchase. 
I was well paid for my land, for which blessing I 
am yet thankful, and trust that I shall ever be found 
a good steward of the manifold mercies of the Lord. 
This year there were no returns of members. At 
this time a little incident occurred in the life of 
Jesse Walker worthy of note, as showing the intol- 
erance we had sometimes to meet with, even in a 
new country. At an early day he was in the habit 
of holding meetings for the handful of Americans 
then in St. Louis. Findinj.^; that there was a need 



WEST AND NOtlTH-WEST. 97 

for regular appointments, tie made tliem for once in 
four weeks. The Catholics hearing of this great 
outrage — that a Methodist was to preach regularly 
among them — went to their priest with a complaint 
against such presumption. '' Never mind," said the 
priest, '' they can 't do much ; if nothing else will 
do, we will starve them out." '' Starve them out," 
said the complainant, ''why, they will live where a 
dog would starve to death!" And it was through 
the untiring efforts of Walker that the foundations 
of Methodism were so deeply and broadly laid, that 
neither Catholicism nor the ''Prince of the power 
of the air " has been able to withstand its growth. 
The handful of seed which he then planted has now 
become like the " Cedars of Lebanon." May we 
ever manifest his zeal in all good works which the 
Lord may appoint unto us ! 

Amid our other trials and hardship we suffered 
some from fear of the Lidians. I had laid in my 
store of provisions for the coming Summer. It was 
during my absence that Mrs. Beggs was greatly 
annoyed by the Potawatomie Indians, who frequently 
brought rumors that the Black Hawks would kill 
us all that Spring. It was not long before the in- 
habitants came flying from Fox Eiver, through 
great fear of their much-dreaded enemy. They 
came with their cattle and horses, some bareheaded 
and others barefooted, crying, " The Indians ! the 
Indians !" Those that were able hurried on with 

all speed for Danville. All the inhabitants on 

9 



yS EARLY HISTORY OF THE 

Hickory Creek and in Jackson Grove took friglit 
also, and fled. 

A few of the men only staid behind to arrange 
their temporal matters as best they could under the 
circumstances. In the mean time some friendly 
Indians who knew of their fright were coming to 
inform them that their dangers were not so great as 
they supposed. The men, seeing these, and sup- 
posing that they were hostile, mounted their horses 
and fled for life, before they could be informed of 
the friendly intentions of their visitors. The latter 
then tried to head them in, in order to correct their 
mistake. This, of course, only made matters worse; 
and the men hastened on with greater speed till 
they reached their families, who had by this time 
come to a halting place for the night. Their cattle 
and horses were turned out to feed and scattered 
over the surrounding country. They were making 
arrangements for supper — some of them having their 
meals prepared, others just commencing to prepare 
them — when here came those men, flying in hot 
haste, one of whom had lost a hat, and their horses 
jaded and worn, with a ten-mile race. When they 
told of their narrow escape, and how the Indians 
had tried to head them, there was confusion and 
dismay in the little camp. 

It was urged that all should remain quiet till they 
could get their cattle and horses together; but there 
was too much ''demoralization" for that. One team 
could not be found, and it was thought better to 



WEST AND NOETH-WEST. 99 

Bacrifice one than that the whole should suffer. So 
it was decided that they should move off as silently 
as possible; yet there was one ungovernable person 
among them, who made noise enough in driving his 
oxen to have been heard a mile distant. Of course 
this was very annoying to the others, who felt the 
necessity of being quiet. The hatless man and one 
or two others found their way to Danville in ad- 
vance of the rest, and told their fearful stories — 
how the Indians were killing and burning all before 
them, while at this time it is presumed that there 
was not a hostile Indian south of Desplains Kiver. 
At Plainfield, however, the alarm was so great that 
it was thought best to make all possible efforts for 
a defense, in case of an attack. 

My house was considered the most secure place. 
I had two log pens built up, one of which served 
for a barn and the other a shed. These were torn 
down, and the logs used to build up a breast-work 
around the house. All of the people living on Fox 
River who could not get farther away made my 
house a place of shelter. There were one hundred 
and twenty-five, old and young. We had four guns, 
some useless for shooting purposes. Ammunition 
was scarce. All of our pewter spoons, basins, and 
platters were soon molded by the women into bul- 
lets. As a next best means of defense, we got a 
good supply of axes, hoes, forks, sharp sticks, and 
clubs. Here we intended to stay till some relief 
could be obtained. This was on Thursday; and we 



100 EARLY HISTORY OF THE 

remained here till the next Sabbath, when the people 
of Chicago, hearing of our distress, raised a company 
of twenty-five white men, and as many Indians, who 
came to our aid. They remained with us till the 
next morning, (Monday,) and then concluded to re- 
connoiter along Fox Kiver. 

The Indians, with Mr. Lorton at their head, were 
to go to Big Woods, (now Aurora,) and Gen. Brown, 
with Col. Hamilton and their men, were to visit 
Halderman's Grove, and then fix upon a place to 
meet in the evening, where they might spend the 
night together in safety. In the afternoon Mr. 
Lorton came back, with two or three of his Indians, 
and brought us fearful stories of how they had all 
been taken prisoners, and kept two or three hours; 
the Indians, however, being on good terms with 
Black Hawk, he had allowed him, with an escort, to 
have his liberty, in order to go up to Chicago, where 
he intended to take his family for safety. He must 
go that night, and had but a moment to warn us of 
our danger. He told us our fort would be attacked 
that night, or the next at the longest, and that if 
they could not storm the fort at first, they would 
continue the siege till they did. He advised us to 
fly to Ottowa or Chicago as soon as possible. 

Such a scene as then took place at Fort Beggs 
was seldom witnessed, even in those perilous times. 
The stoutest hearts failed them, and strong men 
turned pale, while women and children wept and 
fainted, till it seemed hardly possible to restore them 



WEST AND NORTH-WEST. 101 

to life, and almost cruel for them to return from 
their quiet unconsciousness to a sense of their danger. 
It was no time to hesitate or deliberate. Immediate 
departure was the word; but they were divided as 
to the best means to be taken in finding a place of 
security; some wished to go to Chicago, others to 
Ottowa, while some proposed to separate and scatter 
for the woods. After several short and pithy speeches 
were made, James Walker was elected Captain, and 
formed us into a company. We were advised that 
Indians would never attack a fort, unless driven to 
it, and that it was safer to remain where we were, 
at least till we heard from the remaining men. 

All possible preparations were then made for our 
defense, and we determined to sell our lives as dearly 
as we could. A long piece of fence was torn down 
and strewed about the fort. We set fire to these 
rails, so that we might see the Indians when they 
came for attack. We had several alarms; yet we 
remained here safe till Wednesday evening, and then 
every man was ordered to his post to prepare for 
an onset from the enemy. To our great joy the 
white men returned that evening ; but they brought 
us news of the massacre of fifteen white inhabitants 
on Indian Creek ; also that they were burning 
houses and killing cattle. They advised us to leave 
the fort at once, and go either to Ottowa or 
Chicago. We chose the latter course. One circum^ 
stance I had forgotten to mention. When the in- 
habitants fled from Fox Eiver, there was one infirm 



102 EARLY HISTORY OF THE 

old man wlio was confined to his bed with the rheu- 
matism. He advised them to leave him, as he had 
not many days to live at all events. They left him, 
and it was several days before they ventured back 
to see what had become of him. They found him, 
and learned that the Indians had been there and 
brought him food. He was brought to our fort, 
and there was as much rejoicing as if one had been 
raised from the dead. It was decided that we 
should take him with us to Chicago. We spent the 
night in busy preparations for our departure the 
next day. In getting our oxen and horses together, 
it was found that we had only teams enough to 
carry the people. Nearly all of our efi'ects had to 
be left behind; some of my iron-ware and bed- 
clothes I hid in hollow trees, in hopes of finding 
them again, should I ever return. I did return a 
long time after that. I had been detained by sick- 
ness, and found that my bed-clothes were nearly 
spoiled, and a great destruction of property besides, 
although no houses were burned. 

We left our fort at seven o'clock on Thursday 
morning, with our company and the twenty-five 
Chicago men as guard; we made quite an imposing 
appearance. We arranged ourselves so as to cover 
near a mile in length on the road. It was after- 
ward said that the Indians were watching us, and 
would have made an attack but for our formidable 
appearance and numbers. We traveled forty miles 
that day, and reached Chicago by sunset. 



WEST AND NORTH-WEST. 103 



CHAPTER XL 

There was no extra room for us wlien we arrived 
in Chicago. Two or three families of our number 
were put into a room fifteen feet square with as 
many more families, and here we staid, crowding 
and jamming each other, for several days. One 
afternoon, as if to increase our misery, a thunder- 
storm came up, and the end of our room was broken 
in by a stroke of lightning while we were taking a 
lunch. None of us were hurt, but the lightning 
passed down the wall to the room below us, leaving 
a charred seam within a few inches of a keg of pow- 
der. Bat our room, which was in the second story, 
was filled with a distressing odor of sulphurous 
smoke, and the report was the loudest I ever heard. 
The next morning our first babe was born, and dur- 
ing our stay fifteen tender infants were added to our 
number. One may imagine the confusion of the 
scene — children were crying and women were com- 
plaining within doors, while without the tramp of 
soldiery, the rolling of drums, and the roar of can- 
non added to the din; and yet out of this confusion 
we tried to arrange order. The soldiery were drawn 
up in solid column near one of the houses, whose 
friendly steps were my only pulpit. Here I stood 



104 EARLY HISTORY OF THE 

and pointed out to tliem the ''Lamb of God, who 
taketh away tlie sins of the world." 

In a few days the inhabitants of Walker's Grove, 
now Plainfield, returned to the fort with fifty men 
for a guard, and Captain Buckmaster in command. 
They were able to raise, that year, some buckwheat, 
and a few potatoes. Mrs. Beggs was yet too deli- 
cate in health for me to think of leaving. She was 
still confined to her room, yet our stay here was of 
short duration. Major Whistler came on with his 
troops, and at the first roar of his cannon on the 
lake shore there was great rejoicing. But our joy 
was soon turned to heaviness. Instead of receiving 
protection, we were turned out of our shelter in or- 
der to give place to his men, who had been exposed 
to the rough winds on the lake. The order came 
for us to leave the garrison. We should have re- 
belled could it have been of any use, but there was 
no help for us but to obey. The Major and his fam- 
ily came into our room, and we were turned out into 
the pitiless rain-storm that afternoon. We found 
shelter in an open house, where, from the dampness 
and exposure, Mrs. Beggs and the child took a 
severe cold. Colonel Kichard Hamilton then gave 
us the use of one of his small rooms. We made up 
our bed on the floor, where the cold and dampness 
caused both mother and child to take additional cold. 
I also became sick from the exposure, and matters 
indeed wore a gloomy look to us. I trust, however, 
that on the day of reckoning it will be said unto 



WEST AND NORTH-WEST. 105 

Colonel Hamilton for his great kindness unto us, " I 
was a stranger and ye took me in; enter thou into 
the joys of thy Lord." 

I then proposed to Mrs. Beggs to go to Plainfield. 
She consented, saying it would be no better to die 
here than to be killed by the Indians on the road. 
Forty miles through the wilderness! Some had 
been killed but a few days before, although, happily 
for us, we did not know of it at that time. We 
started on our journey, our only defense being one 
loaded pistol, a strong faith in the living God, and 
the promise, ''No harm shall befall thee." We 
reached the fort late in the day, quite safe, but 
much fatigued. I then decided to secure a guard to 
Ottowa, and to get Mrs. Beggs on to Washington to 
her mother's. There had been a company of men 
detached to go either to Ottowa or Chicago to draw 
rations for the soldiers. They decided to go to Chi- 
cago. They were to start the next morning. That 
afternoon, however, Colonel Owens, Indian agent, 
came down with the news that Greneral Scott had 
' come to Chicago with his men, and also brought the 
cholera, a worse-dreaded foe than the Indians. This 
decided the men to go to Ottowa for rations, and by 
that means we obtained a guard. 

The drive to Ottowa through the hot sun and 
over the rough road came very near exhausting my 
wife and child, yet we ventured on to Washington 
alone. The Indian difficulties being by this time 
pretty much over, I concluded to return alone to 



106 EARLY HISTORY OF THE 

the fort. In the mean time the inhabitants had fled 
from the cholera, leaving Chicago almost deserted. 
Some of them had come to our fort, while others 
went to Danville. Numbers died of the cholera, 
and General Scott's men had to remain till the epi- 
demic had subsided. It was not long after this that 
General Scott gave chase to Black Hawk, and effect- 
ually drove the Indians a,way. We now had peace 
in all our borders. There was no hope now of my 
doing any thing in my station, so I concluded to 
go on a visit to my father's, in Clark county, Indi- 
ana. From this place I started again for Wash- 
ington, a journey of three hundred miles, which 
cost me an outlay of six cents. I found my wife 
and child very much improved in health, which 
gave me renewed courage, and I thanked God for 
his great blessings. 

After a few days' rest I started for Conference, 
which was held at Jacksonville, Illinois. Our mem- 
bers numbered ten, with Jesse Walker presiding 
elder. The Illinois Conference having been divided, 
there remained to us twenty-five preachers. The 
most prominent were M. Taylor, Peter Cartwright, 
Jesse Walker, J. Dew, S. H. Thompson, Simon Pe- 
ter, and J. Sinclair. Bishop Soule presided, and we 
had a very pleasant session. There were only forty 
preachers, traveling and local, to supply the whole 
State of Illinois. I was sent to the Desplaines mis- 
sion, with an appropriation of two hundred dollars 
from the Missionary Society. 



WEST AND NORTH-WEST. 107 

This year, 1833, my mission embraced the follow- 
ing appointments: Plainfield, Naperville, E. Scar- 
riott's, (East Dupage,) Oswego, Halderman's Grove, 
John Green's, Ottowa, Martin Eeynolds's, (twelve 
miles down the river,) Jackson's Grove, Keed's Grove, 
Hicliory Creek, and Yankee Settlement. The pros- 
pects of peace, and the fact that we could return 
again to our worship, gave us many hearty amens 
from the brethren, especially at a camp meeting at 
Joliet, on the claim of brother Gongers, where the 
scattered inhabitants had but just returned from 
their flight from the Indians. 

It was a year of hard labor; for I had a number 
of long rides. Then, too, came our first great sor- 
row. We lost our only child, Mary Ellen. We 
bowed our heads in submission, as we thought that 
''our loss was her gain." If the Lord had given 
her unto us, was it not meet that he should take 
her unto himself again? And we lived in the hope 
of one day being welcomed by her to our mansion 
in the skies. It is many years since she died, and 
her mother has now joined her across that Jordan 
of death, while I yet remain, after a conflict of near 
a half century, on the confines of that brighter world, 
faint, yet pressing onward, with the joyful prospect 
of their welcoming me to my home in heaven. 

Desplaines returned thirty-four members. Jesse 
Walker was superintendent. In 1834 our Confer- 
ence met at Union Grove, St. Clair county, Bishop 
Eoberts presiding. Our business was dispatched 



108 EARLY HISTORY OF THE 

with the usual satisfaction to all. I was reap- 
pointed to Desplaines mission, and I returned with 
renewed zeal, which in this case was the more neces- 
sary, as the rage for * speculation was just com- 
mencing among both settlers and emigrants. It 
was an earnest struggle, and it sometimes seemed 
impossible to hold the attention of a sinner long 
enough to impress him with the great claims which 
the Gospel had upon him. Those who would not 
come out to church I followed to their houses, con- 
versing with them on the highways and by the way- 
side. It was a doubtful struggle; but, by the help 
of the Lord and his efficient instruments, in the 
persons of brothers Walker, E. Scarriott, and F. 
Owens, I saw many souls converted and believers 
strengthened. I was enabled to form new classes, 
and our quarterly meetings, two days' meetings, and 
camp meetings were crowned with abundant sue 
cess. Our numbers increased to fifty-seven, J. Sin- 
clair our presiding elder. 

My worldly goods increased, so that, if one could 
use the paradox, I was cursed with blessings. Three 
years before I owned a horse and sixty dollars. 
Now my farm of two hundred and forty acres was 
nearly paid for; and I had four horses, seven cows, 
and forty hogs. My farm also yielded bountifully; 
and now it had come to that, that I must either 
give up farming or the itinerancy. I chose to cling 
to the latter; for I remembered the solemn promise 
I had made at the time of my ordination, to give 



WEST AND NORTH-WEST. 109 

myself up wholly to the work of saving souls. Ac- 
cordingly I sold out my stock, and with the pro- 
ceeds built a barn ; I then rented my farm for one 
year. I had made a sacrifice; yet I believe it 
worked together for good to me and mine; and, 
which was my higher aim, for the good of the cause. 
It is with the greatest pleasure that I now look 
back, and think that I have given up my best days 
to the service of the Lord; and I now call upon my 
soul, and all that is within me, to bless his holy 
name; and I pray that the ''words of my mouth and 
the meditations of my heart may ever be accepta- 
ble in His sight." 

The Conference was held at Union Grove, about 
three hundred miles distant ; and I, in company with 
Eev. Z. Hall, rode to it on horseback, at the rate of 
fifty miles a day. Our stay at Conference rested us, 
'and we returned to the moral conflict with renewed 
zeal. I was sent to the Bureau mission in 1835. 

In the Summer of 1834 I accompanied John Sin- 
clair, presiding elder, to his quarterly meeting 
at Galena. Barton Eandle and J. T. Mitchell were 
laboring on that circuit. After a profitable and 
pleasant meeting we started for a camp meeting 
that was to be held near Princeton. The meeting 
was somewhat advanced, and there was prospect of 
a good work. Two Congregational ministers came 
to the camp-ground, and proposed to join us in our 
eff'orts. There was to be no doctrine preached, and 
at the close of the meeting the converts were to 



110 EARLY HISTORY OF THE 

join wliere they pleased ; to this our presiding elder 
strongly objected. He said he was a Methodist, and 
he must preach their doctrines, and that there could 
be no union on such terms. We had an unusually suc- 
cessful meeting, the fruits of which I trust will be seen 
in eternity ; and from that time Methodism has taken 
deep root in that quarter, growing even till now. 

When I arrived at my mission that year with my 
family, the only shelter I could get was a small log- 
house fourteen feet square. It had but one window, 
and that with four panes of glass. There were no 
shelves, and only a stick chimney. Most of our 
things had to be stowed away in boxes. To add to 
our discomfort the Winter was unusually severe. A 
sister of mine lived with us. A short time before 
our second child, James Williams, was born, I moved 
into a log-cabin, somewhat larger than the first, but 
little better in other respects. I had a large four 
weeks' circuit — Ottowa, Dayton; two appointments 
on Indian Creek, Pawpaw, Mulligan's Grove; three 
•appointments on Bureau, and four miles to the west. 
Old Indiantown; then three appointments up at 
Peru, and one at Judge Strong's, five miles below 
Ottowa; and another at Troy Grove — making sixteen 
appointments in all ; J. Sinclair presiding elder. This 
year we had a good revival; returned one hundred 
members ; raised about eighty dollars for missions. 

Our next Conference was held at Springfield ; 
Bishop Roberts presided. Our number of preachers 
stationed was about sixty. There were several 



WEST AND NORTH-WEST. Ill 

transferred — A. Brunson, \V. B. Mack, W. Wigley, 
H. W. Eeed, and S. F. Whitney. I was sent back 
to my mission of last year. There had been a new 
mission formed, which took off two of my appoint- 
ments, namely, Indian Creek and Ottowa. 

We had this year a glorious revival, much more 
extensive than last year. We also had an excel- 
lent camp meeting. A. E. Phelps was present, and 
preached with great liberty and with powerful effect. 
W. B. Mack followed with another very effective 
sermon, and the meeting closed with a number of 
conversions and accessions to our number; yet we 
received a blow this year that was greatly to the 
injury of Methodism. This was the downfall of our 
brother W. B. Mack; but the Lord overruled the 
affliction, and Methodism in that quarter yet lives. 
The number of members returned in 1836 was two 
hundred and thirty-one. 

In the year 1837 Conference was held at Kush- 
ville, Illinois, Bishop Boberts presiding. It was a 
season long to be remembered, especially for a mis- 
sionary meeting, a thing unheard of in that day. 
P. E. Borein spoke in favor of the missionary cause. 
His speech greatly moved his hearers, so much so 
that Bishop Eoberts sat trembling in his chair, while 
the tears coursed rapidly down his cheeks. This 
speech was the beginning of Borein's brilliant career. 
John Clark had just come down from the Lake Su- 
perior mission, and presented the claims to education 
of two or three Indian boys for the mission field 



112 EARLY HISTORY OF THE 

among the Indians. Great was tlie work and great 
the occasion, and our brother caught the inspiration, 
and his speech sent an electrifying thrill for the mis- 
sionary cause through the whole Conference. The 
result was a very large collection for the work, many 
of the preachers paying their last dollar, and then 
having to borrow money to get home with. 

This year I was sent to Joliet. My colleague was 
Matthew A. Turner, and presiding elder John Clark. 
My circuit embraced all the counties south of the 
Desplaines Eiver. It was a glorious year to me. We 
had several conversions, with strong evidence of their 
being born into the kingdom; and especially at our 
camp meetings did the work of grace thrive. 

One circumstance is worthy of note, as showing 
God's care over his children. We had two local 
preachers and two exhorters, and there being no pre- 
siding elder the charge of the meeting and preaching 
fell upon me. Brother Joseph Shoemaker gathered 
up his family and came up to the feast of the taber- 
nacles, as was the custom in that day. Our aim 
was to get spiritual good to our souls, and to do 
good unto others. His wife had been a member of 
some years' standing, yet was not satisfied with her 
attainments, and throughout the whole meeting earn- 
estly sought the blessing of acceptance. It was a 
time of melting power; yet sister Shoemaker left 
the meeting under great depression. They left, 
and on their way home they continued singing, 
shouting, and praying, brother Shoemaker having 



WEST AND NORTH-WEST. 113 

in charge a spirited team of horses. All at once 
there went up from the wagon a shout of 
"Glory to God!" and as it burst upon the ears of 
the driver, he let go his reins and fell back in the 
wagon, joining the general shout. Away went his 
horses, at the top of their speed, making a circuit 
of several miles. Some of the brethren who were 
behind caught the horses as they came in from their 
detour, and found all safe and still praising God, 
unconscious of all that had passed. God had watched 
over them, and given his angels charge concerning 
them, and how could harm befall them? 

This year I commenced the first church in Joliet, 
and it was completed in time for our last quarterly 
meeting. I preached the first Methodist sermon in 
Joliet, with only the inmates of a private house for 
my congregation. There were but few present, and 
they were hardened in sin; but now, by the grace 
of God, the Church there numbers hundreds, and 
may the Lord prosper them unto the end ! 

Here I transcribe the inscription taken from the 
tombstone of Kev. Jesse Walker. It was written by 
Bishop Hamline, at my request. His remains lie in 
the Plainfield cemetery. 

JESSE WALKER. 
Died Oct, 4, 1835, 

AGED SIXTY-NINE YEARS. 

At the Rock River Conference, in 1850, his remains were removed 

to this place by his sons in the Gospel, who erect this 

stone to transmit his revered name to 

coming generations. 

10 



114 EARLY HISTORY OF THE 



CHAPTER XII. 

In the year 1837 I traveled the Forked Creek 
circuit, living at Wilmington. Our accommodations 
were very unpleasant, yet they were the best to be 
had. We lived in the second story. The -weather 
was very hot, the season sickly, and the musketoes 
intplerable. I have frequently sat up all night to 
keep them off from those who slept. 

There were some very sudden deaths among my 
flock, yet we had some reason to rejoice in the good 
work that I was still urging forward. Our quarter- 
age was light, as we had but few members, and all 
were very poor. Yet they were the Lord's poor, and 
had large souls, and shared liberally with me of their 
scanty means. John Clark was presiding elder. We 
had a camp meeting at Reed's Grove, where we had 
such wonderful displays of God's power and glory, 
that it remains like a bright light in the memory 
of those who survive; and they speak of it as most 
triumphant and successful in its powerful conver- 
sions. When the meeting closed, and we had the 
last mourner down for prayers, there were but 
two unconverted souls left. There was one man, 
now brother Thomas Underwood, who called him- 
self ''a hard case." He came on the ground with 
many otliers, steeped in sin like himself. On 



WEST AND NORTH-WEST. 115 

Sabbath, with others, he came forward for prayers. 
After a long struggle, and naany prayers in. his be- 
half, late in the evening he raised his head, and 
said, ''1 think I feel better." ''Yes," said he, ''I 
do feel better; I think I have got religion." Then 
he arose, and in the most earnest tones said, ''Yes, 
I have got religion." One could almost see his face 
shine ; and yet he so feared that others might doubt 
his sincerity, that he began exhorting sinners in the 
most earnest manner, pointing them to the Lamb of 
God as their all-sufficient Savior; and enforced the 
exhortation by alluding to himself as the most hard- 
ened of sinners. If God could save him, what might 
he not do for others if they would only repent? 
He then took hold of one hardened sinner that sat 
near him; said he, "You are going to get religion 
too." "No!" said the sinner, "I am not." "Do 
not say so," said he; "I once said so too; but I 
thank God that I have come here." He continued 
urging him for a long time; yet the man persisted 
in his refusal. At last he said, " 0, do not say 
so ; ^you will, you must come with us yet." The 
man turned pale, and down he came and commenced 
praying; soon Israel was victorious. 

This man's efforts and success were so great that 
he had but to ask a sinner to yield, and he gave 
himself up to the Savior. When the invitation 
came for the young converts to come forward to join 
as probationers, he was the first to come. Seeing 
that others hesitated, he begged the privilege of 



116 EARLY HISTORY OF THE 



1 



lielping them to take their final resolution. " 
yes," said I, "bring them in by all means." By his 
persistent efibrts he brought in several. One of them 
said to him, *' You are going to heaven, brother 
Thomas." ''Yes," said he, "I am going, if I have 
to go alone; still I am going." His face is yet Zion- 
ward, he is still on his way to heaven; but not 
alone. Some time after this, when, on being ex- 
amined in class meeting, he was feeling very gloomy, 
he said he could best describe his condition by com- 
paring himself to a pile of drift-wood, hedged in the 
swollen river, and to move forward was out of the 
question. The meeting went on, and it became a 
heavenly place in Christ Jesus. Brother Underwood 
arose and said, '' Grlory to God, brethren, I 'm afloat." 

At our present meeting J. Clark, presiding elder, 
came and preached once, and then left on a visit to 
his father's. William Crissey, Francis Owens, and 
some others composed the group of ministers. From 
among our brethren of the laity we had the Fra- 
zier's, Kelly's, and old brother Watkins. From 
Forked Creek we had brother Shoemaker, George 
Lyonbarger, and a few others. In those, days when 
I could get these la}^ brethren, and old brother F. 
Owens, we seldom failed of having a time of refresh- 
ing from the " presence of the Lord." This year 
was a great spiritual feast to my poor soul. The 
number of members returned was one hundred 
and ten. 

From the Alton Conference, September 12, 



WEST AND NORTH-WEST. 117 

1838, Bishop Soule presiding, I received my appoint- 
ment to the Joliet circuit, with William S. Crissey, 
A. Chenoweth superintendent. This was brother 
Crissey's second year ; and he was an indefatigable 
laborer, attending to all matters both small and 
great, and completing the churches that I had 
commenced two years before — one at Plainfield and 
another at Joliet; J. Clark was presiding elder. The 
number of members returned this year was one 
hundred and eighty- eight. This was my first ex- 
perience under a superintendent. The circumstances 
and events of the relationship were any thing but 
pleasant; and I prayed to be delivered from the 
like again. I may appropriately introduce here a 
connected view of the work in the locality embrac- 
ing Wilmington, Joliet, and Ottowa from its origin 
to a very recent date. 

In 1832 I was appointed to the Desplaines mission, 
embracina; all the settlements from twelve miles be- 
low Ottowa up to Oswego, Naperville, Plainfield, 
Yankee Settlement, (four miles east of Lockport,) 
Hickory Creek, Jackson's Grove, and Eeed's Grove. 
This latter was at the limits of the white population, 
and the number of members was thirty-four. Jesse 
Walker was my presiding elder. In 1833 I was re- 
turned to the same charge — small congregations, 
reached by long, slow rides, by Indian trails, or 
over the trackless prairie. This was a hard year's 
labor, resulting in but little apparent good. This 
Fall the preachers met in Conference at brother 



118 EARLY HISTORY OF THE 

Padfield's, Union Grove, about twenty miles east of 
St. Louis — an account of whicli session is elsewhere 
given. David Blackwell was appointed to Desplaines 
mission, John Sinclair presiding elder. It embraced 
all the white settlements this side of Ottowa, except 
Chicago, extending south to Forked Creek. Black- 
well formed the first class in the last-named locality 
in John Frazer's log-cabin, brother Frazer leader; 
members, Mrs. Frazer, John and Elizabeth Williams, 
Eobert and Ann Watkins, James and Nancy Kelley, 
James Jordan and wife, John and Elizabeth Howell, 
and Hamilton and Martha Keeney. Number of 
members this year, fifty-seven. Blackwell was re- 
appointed in 1835, Wilder B. Mack presiding 
elder. Number of members returned, one hundred 
and sixty. The following year, (1836,) myself and 
Matthew Turner were appointed on the Joliet cir- 
cuit, brother Mack presiding elder. Number of 
members returned, two hundred and fifty-three. In 
1837 I was appointed to Forked Creek, embracing 
Wilmington, John Clark presiding elder. William 
Creery was on Joliet circuit. There were numerous 
conversions on both charges; members returned, 
two hundred and eight. In 1838 Milton Bourne 
went to Wilmington, and William S. Crissey, Asbury 
Chenoweth and myself, to Joliet, John Clark pre- 
siding elder; members returned, one hundred and 
forty-eight. In 1839 William Vallette to Wilming- 
ton, and William Wigley to Joliet; John Sinclair 
presiding elder. 



WEST AND NOETH-WEST. " 119 

In 1840 the Eock Eiver Conference was formed. 



Wigley being returned to Joliet, and Eufus Lumery 
going to Wilmington; number of members, one 
hundred and forty-eight. In 1841 Simon K. Lemon 
went to Wilmington ; John Sinclair presiding elder — • 
a good preacher and hard worker, whose labors 
were blessed with a revival; members returned, 
two hundred and seventy-six. Milton Bourne went 
to Joliet. In 1842 Joliet circuit embraced Wilming- 
ton ; preachers, Elihu Springer and S. K. Lemon ; 
membership, two hundred and eighty-four. In 1843 
I was returned to Joliet circuit, Levi Jenks and 
James Leckenby, assistants; S. Stocking presiding 
elder; membership, five hundred and twenty-nine. 
In 1844 H. Minard to Joliet circuit, William Gaddis 
to Wilmington; James Mitchell presiding elder. In 
1845 0. A. Walker and E. E. Thomas at Joliet, 
William Gaddis at Wilmington. In 1846 brother 
Walker was returned to Joliet; brother Mitchell 
presiding elder. In 1847 John ISTason to Joliet, S. 
P. Burr to Wilmington; members returned, one 
hundred and fifty-three; Milton Bourne presiding 
elder. In 1848 to Joliet, 0. W. Munger; to Wil- 
mington, S. P. Burr; members returned, one hund- 
red and fifty-three. In 1849 T. F. Deming to 
Joliet, C. Lazenby to Wilmington; A. L. Eisley 
presiding elder. In 1850 James P. Vance to Joliet, 
0. W. Munger to Wilmijugton; 0. A. Walker pre- 
siding elder. In 1851 B. 0. Swartz to Joliet, 
(mission station); to Wilmington, brother Munger; 



120 EARLY HISTORY OF THE 

brother Walker presiding elder. In 1852 M. L. 
Read to Joliet, W. Fidler to Wilmington; brother 
Walker presiding elder. In 1853 brother Read to 
Joliet; Wilmington, A. Reker; brother Walker 
presiding elder. In 1854 to Joliet, J. Gibson; to 
Wilmington, C. Reeder. In 1855 brothers Gibson 
and Reeder were both returned. 

In 1856, Joliet, Wm. Goodfellow; Wilmington, to 
be supplied; J. Gibson presiding elder; members 
returned, one hundred and sixty-seven and one 
hundred and seventy-one, respectively. In 1857 to 
Wilmington, F. P. Cleveland; members, one hund- 
red and twenty; Joliet, J. Vincent; members re- 
turned, one hundred and fifty-eight; J. Gibson 
presiding elder. In 1858 to Joliet, N. B. Slaugh- 
ter; members, two hundred and two; to Wilming- 
ton, Wm. Keegan; members, one hundred and fifty- 
three; J. Gibson presiding elder. In 1859 same 
preachers and presiding elder; members, Joliet, one 
hundred and eighty-seven ; Wilmington, two hund- 
red. In 1860 to Joliet, H. Crews; members, two 
hundred and twenty; to Wilmington, R. N. Morse; 
members, one hundred and thirty-three; S. A. W. 
Jewett presiding elder. In 1861 preachers and 
presiding elder returned; members at Joliet, two 
hundred and twenty-two ; at Wilmington, one hund- 
red and ninety-two. In 1862 to Joliet, S. G. La- 
throp; members, two hundred and three; to Wil- 
mington, S. Washburn ; members, two hundred and 
seven ; brother Jewett presiding elder. In 1863 to 



WEST AND NORTH-WEST. 121 

Joliet, S. A. W. Jewett ; members, two hundred and 
three; to Wilmington, R. E. Bibbens; members, 
two hundred and twenty; W.H. Glass presiding elder. 
In 1864 preachers and presiding elder returned; 
members, Joliet, two hundred; Wilmington, one 
hundred and ninety. In 1865 to Joliet, W. P. 
Gray; members, two hundred and seventy-one; to 
Wilmington, brother Crews ; members, two hundred 
and sixteen ; William F. Stewart presiding elder. In 
1866 to Joliet, W. P. Gray; to Wilmington, W. H. 
Glass; brother Stewart presiding elder. In 1867 
both preachers returned; increase of membership 
not reported, 

U 



122 EAELY HISTOEY OF THE 



CHAPTER XIII. 

From the Bloomington Conference in 1839 I re- 
ceived my appointment for Peoria, at the hands of 
Bishop Morris. A brief history of Peoria may not 
come amiss here. It is the oldest settled town on 
the lake, west of the Alleghanies. In 1722 it was 
in the hands of Virginians; but it was first gov- 
erned by the French. 

The State of Illinois has been owned by four na- 
tions — the Indians, French, English, and Americans. 
East of the present city of Peoria, La Salle with 
his party made a small fort in 1680 ; and, to com- 
memorate his hardships, called both it and the Lake 
" Crave Coeur,'' which means in our language 
'' Broken Heart." The Indian traders and whites 
engaged in commerce with them, resided at the old 
fort from the year 1680 till 1781, when John Bap- 
tiste Maillet made a new location and village about 
a mile and a half west of the old village, at the out- 
let of the lake. This town was called La Ville de 
Maillet ; that is, Maillet City. At the old fort there 
was no gardening or raising of vegetables; but the 
inhabitants depended mostly upon the Indians and 
the chase for support. But at the new settlement 
gardens were cultivated and fields of grain were 
raised. 



WEST AND NORTH-WEST. 123 

In the year 1781 the Indians, under British in- 
fluence, drove off the inhabitants from. Peoria; but 
at the treaty of peace in 1783 they returned again. 
Then in 1812 Capt. Craig wantonly destroyed the 
village; but the city of Peoria now occupies the 
site of the village of Maillet, and bids fair to be- 
come one of the largest cities in Illinois. 

At that time the whole frontier, from the Mis- 
sissippi down to the Wabash and above Vin- 
cennes, increased rapidly every year. The interior 
pJso grew more dense and more wealthy. In 1820 
Abner Gads, with others, settled in Peoria. Soon 
after, an Indian agency was established ; William 
Holland was appointed Government blacksmith for 
the Indians. They were at that time very trouble- 
some, and his family were at times in great peril; 
and yet he remained at his post of duty for several 
years. After the whites commenced settling in 
Peoria, it was selected by the commissioners, Wil- 
liam Holland, Joseph Smith, and Nathan Dillon, as 
the county seat. James Latham obtained a floating 
claim, and laid it on the town site. After it had 
been a subject of litigation for some time the matter 
was compromised, and his claim was located at 
Peoria. The French had a claim in the upper part 
of the city, which was recognized by the Govern- 
ment. The claimants were Burboney, Beeso, Serett, 
and James Matty, the latter being the interpreter. 
It is said that they realized but little for their 
claims. 



124 EARLY HISTORY OF THE 

At the time of my appointment Peoria was a 
station, and had a circuit connected with it. Brother 
.E. Thompson was sent with me. He preached on 
the circuit while I remained at the station. I have 
been thinking lately how very great the contrast is in 
the managing of appointments now as compared with 
that time — how the preacher nowadays makes ar- 
rangements with the people for his next field of 
labor; how high salaries are offered as an induce- 
ment; and how the people's wishes are consulted in 
these matters. It was very different in those days. 
At the Bloomington Conference, Bishop Morris hav- 
ing heard that certain arrangements had been made, 
and some agreements entered into by the people of 
Peoria, for the purpose of securing the services of 
brother C, set his foot firmly down and said, ''He 
shall not go." 

This brother C, it seems, had a brother-in-law, 
Dr. M., at Peoria, who, together with himself, felt a 
strong interest in securing the station for him that 
year. The Doctor raised by subscription a sum of 
three hundred dollars, and promised to risk the rest 
of his support. A request was then sent in to Con- 
ference, which, as I have said, the Bishop perempto- 
rily refused. I preached my first sermon here en- 
tirely ignorant of the state of feeling then existing. 
As I rode up to the place, on Sabbath morning, 
where I was to preach, I was met at the door and 
asked, "Where is brother C. ? We sent for him, 
and we expect him." I knew nothing of the matter, 



WEST AND NORTH-WEST. 125 

and could only reply, " I am sent as your preacher." 
After the sermon I went home with brother Bristol 
to dinner. While there, Dr. M. came in to make 
inquiry about brother C. When he was told that 
brother C. was not coming he seemed much excited, 
and said, ''That is the way they always serve us 
here. I raised three hundred dollars, and could 
have easily raised more, and now, to be put off in 
this way, it is really too bad. If brother C. had 
come he would have built us a church, and Method- 
ism would have been something; but now we shall 
have nothing done." The Doctor felt badly at the 
prospect, but I do not think he felt worse than I did 
at the vjelcome I had received. 

Entering upon my work under such a depression 
made me cling closer to the Lord for help. On 
Monday morning, before I left, I visited all the 
members in town, and then started after my family, 
I had to remove them one hundred and twenty 
miles, and begin another year's hard labor. When 
we got to Peoria the only house we could obtain 
was a dilapidated dwelling which had long been the 
abode of rats, whose rights to our home were pretty 
actively contested for three months. One day while 
I was absent from home Judge Parker, although not 
a member of our Church, nor even a professor of 
religion, went and rented a comfortable house on his 
own responsibility, and offered it to my family as a 
home. They were moved and comfortably settled be- 
fore I came back. It was with no little satisfaction 



126 EARLY HISTORY OF THE 

to myself and family that this change for a better 
home had been effected. 

Our only place of worship was brother Bristol's 
carpenter-shop, and there I preached, among jack- 
planes and chisels. The shop was situated on an 
alley, but I had got, by this time, thoroughly and 
earnestly at work, and we had excellent meetings, 
many souls being born into the kingdom. One even- 
ing while holding meetings we had a crowded house, 
and many came who had to go away again. I pro- 
posed the building of a new church, and told them 
if they would be led by me they would soon have a 
new church to worship in. The next morning I 
was met on all sides by objections. It was out of 
the question, they said, to build a church, the times 
were so hard and money so scarce, as every one 
would agree who knew the gloomy prospect of '39 
and '40; besides, what made matters more discour- 
aging, was the fact that about two years previous 
an attempt had been made to build a frame church. 
It was decided by a reverend brother that a frame 
church would be a disgrace to Peoria, and they must 
have a brick church or none. The lumber which 
had then been collected was sold, and the money ob- 
tained for it pocketed by Mark Hiken, a steward. 
My informants were brothers Bristol and Markle, 
both members of the Official Board. In face of all 
these objections I was still decided that we could have 
a church. I said to them, " Well, now, let 's decide 
upon a place; get your axes, and let's go into the 



I 



weSt and north-west. 127 

woods, fell our own trees, haul them up on the snow, 
and we can score and hew our own logs. I will beg 
lumber at the different saw-mills to raise it, and we 
can have a house." 

A majority fell in with my plans, and we went to 
work, and by the opening of Spring we had the tim- 
bers for all of the sills and plates. Then I made a 
''bee" to get the timbers hewed, and also secured 
the studding. One Sabbath, after service, I told the 
brethren that I wished to see them all on the ground 
the next morning, as I intended, by the next Satur- 
day night, to have the timbers all framed and raised. 
The invitation was extended to all; every one that 
could bore with an auger or mortise a hole was 
urged to be on the ground. Next morning only 
four or five came in answer to the call. ''Now," 
said brother Bristol, "where are your men? I felt 
exceedingly small when you were urging them to 
come out; you know so little of the amount of work 
necessary to be done. I thought, by the way you 
talked, that you expected to see all Peoria obedient 
to the call." Said I, "Brother Bristol, I appoint 
you foreman of the work. Only go at it and lay out 
the work, and I will have hands here yet." So he 
and those who were present went to work in good 
earnest. About noon our foreman was taken sick, 
but I soon found another, and the work went on. 
Every toper that I found in the village I urged into 
the work, and " their name was legion," because the 
stagnation was so great that there was no work to 



128 EAELY HISTORY OF THE 

be had. Still, up to this time, I had no foundation 
for my church. In circulating among the people I 
found one man who would donate brick, and seeing 
a friend in the street with his horses and wagon, I 
had but to ask and I received. He hauled in the 
brick. Then I came across some masons, who kindly 
offered to lay up the wall, and by twelve o'clock on 
Saturday afternoon I requested all the workmen to 
go about and invite every one they should meet to 
come and help raise the church that afternoon. 
They came pouring in from all quarters, and just as 
the sun was setting the frame of the first Methodist 
church ever built in Peoria was standing. 

It was predicted, even after this effort, by all the 
other denominations, that our church would never be 
completed. Nothing more would be done, they said, 
and the timbers would rot down. The next step, and 
the hardest one, was to raise money. A plan was 
soon hit upon. I was to take my horse and buggy, 
and traverse the State. I was to ask each man for 
a dollar, and as much more as he would give. So 
off I started. My largest subscription was twenty- 
five dollars. I took a tour through Alton, St. Louis, 
and Belleville, and returned with sixty-five dollars. 
Then my next resort was to go to the saw-mills 
again. I was successful in begging flooring, siding, 
and sheeting. One friend gave me a large red oak 
tree; this was for the shingles. So the brethren 
went out and felled the tree, sawed it up, hauled it 
in, and hired some one to turn it into shingles. One 



WEST AND NORTH-WEST. 129 

of the brethren donated poles for rafters, which were 
carted four miles; another brother hewed, fitted, and 
put them up. Then I resorted to another " bee," in 
order to get the siding planed and put on. Into this 
siding I drove the first nail. I then pressed another 
brother into the good work, and he laid the floor. 
We were now ready for plastering, which brother 
Loomis agreed to do if some one would put on the 
lath. Another "bee," and another, till we had the 
building nearly complete. We put in a temporary 
pulpit and seats, and I held my last quarterly meet- 
ing in it. We were less than ten dollars in debt, 
and nearly all the money spent on it was raised on 
my tour South. 

At our last love-feast, which was conducted with 
closed doors, I felt unusually liberal. I was door- 
keeper, and I let in several without questions. 
Brother King, one of the official board, came to me 
and said, '' Brother Beggs, what do you mean by 
letting in so many to our love-feast? You have even 
let in old Heaton." Said I, " I do n't know old 
Heaton; but go back, brother King, take your seat 
and pray on." He did so, and our meeting grew in 
interest, till I opened the door to receive members. 
The first man who presented himself was '' old Hea- 
ton" — as they called him. He, with a number of 
others, joined our Church; and by this time the 
moral thermometer in Peoria stood at salvation heat ; 
and the power of the Lord came down in such a won- 
derful manner that there was one general shout of 



130 EARLY HISTORY OF THE 

"Glory to God in the highest!" Our shouting was 
heard almost over the whole city, the church being 
nearly central. People had come in from every 
direction to see our new church, and it was not 
large enough to hold all that came. One of the 
local preachers got so filled with holy zeal that he 
ran out of doors and shouted at the top of his 
voice, *' Glory to God in the highest!" They had not 
even ceased their manifestations of religious fervor 
and zeal when the hour arrived for preaching. This 
meeting closed up my Conference year. The Church 
had been much revived, and many members joined 
on probation. All seemed thankful to God, and 
took courage for the future; and from this time on- 
ward Methodism had a stronghold in that city. It 
is now the leading denomination. My presiding 
elder for that year was Newton Benjamin. 



WEST AND NORTH-WEST. 131 



CHAPTER XIV. 

Some years after I had the pleasure of being at 
the dedication of the new brick church in Peoria, 
and Bishop Janes preached the dedicatory sermon; 
after which Dr. M'Neal read the history of the 
Church. He spol^e of Rev. Joseph Arington as hav- 
ing formed the first class in Peoria. I could not but 
smile at the misstatement. This was in 1834. Nine 
years before, in the year 1825, Jesse Walker formed 
a class of sixteen members. I give their names: 
Jesse Walker and wife; James Walker and wife; 
sister Dixon, the wife of the proprietor of Dixon- 
town, on Eock Eiver; sister Hamlin, and another 
sister, converts that Winter; Wm. Holland and wife; 
Wm. Eads and wife; Wm. Blanchard, Eev. Eeeves 
M'Cormick, and Mary Clark. 

The next Summer he held a camp meeting one 
mile above Peoria, on the west side of the lake; 
Wm. Holland moved up an old log-cabin for his 
tent; and the old hero, Jesse Walker, had with him 
his son and others; Eeeves M'Cormick also assisted. 

Wm. Eoyal was T. Hall's predecessor in 1832. It 
was then called Fort Clark mission. The boundaries 
of Hall's mission in 1832 and '33 were as follows : 
Peoria, Lancaster, now La Salle Prairie; brother 
Jones's, on Snack Eiver; Princeville, Essex school- 



132 EARLY HISTORY OF THE 

house; Fraker's Grove, now Lafayette; thence to 
Princeton, some thirty miles distant; and thence to 
Troy Grove, twenty-five miles farther; brother 
Long's, near La Salle; and thence down the river 
to Miller's school-house, five miles below Peru. 
Then next to John Hall's, one hundred and fifty 
miles around. Some time in the Spring he formed 
a class of six or eight persons. Their names are as 
follows : Wm. Eads and wife, sister A. Hale, sister 
Waters, David Spencer, and some others, John Sin- 
clair, presiding elder; members returned, forty- 
eight. Wm. See traveled the Peoria circuit in 
1827, and Smith L. Kobertson in 1828. It was 
then a large circuit, and he held a camp meeting 
three miles east of Peoria, on Farm Creek, Sam. H. 
Thompson presiding elder. Jesse Walker, and, I 
think, Wm. See, assisted. Gov. Edwards, the first 
Governor of the State, was then present. 

They had a gracious time ; yet even in that early 
day they were not free from disturbance. A certain 
individual was sent after whisky, and who, in going 
for it, had to pass the camp-ground. He stopped 
to hear the presiding elder's sermon. After its close 
a collection was taken up, and the money designed 
for whisky (fifty cents) was thrown into the hat. 
When he returned and was asked where his money 
was gone to replied, "0 I thought the preacher 
needed it more than you did the whisky." 

A. E. Phelps was my predecessor in the station, 
and sustained himself well. The court-house was 



WEST AND NORTH-WEST. 133 

occupied by a Unitarian preacher as well as him- 
self. One day the former, in preaching on the 
Divinity of Christ, ran across the track of A. E. 
Phelps, and so he pitched into the Unitarian cham- 
pion rough-shod, and so completely showed the 
fallacy of his doctrine that he had to leave, and A. 
E. Phelps had the house to himself. By this he rose 
fifty per cent, in the estinaation of his hearers. Here 
commenced his brilliant career as a successful cham- 
pion against Unitarians, Universalism, Deism, and 
Exclusive Immersionists, as practising the only mode 
of baptism. I do not think any one of his antagonists 
ever got the better of him. He excelled as a his- 
torian, and was truly an able defender of Methodism. 
He increased in usefulness till he was called from 
his labors to his long rest. In his footsteps follows 
a son that bids fair for a useful minister. What 
greater star could be added to the crown of glory 
of a departed saint than that his sons were follow- 
ing in his footsteps? 

Jesse Walker was born in Virginia, Buckingham 
county, near James Eiver, June 9, 1766. He was 
not blessed with religious parents, yet they were 
moral, and taught him to pray while yet in early 
life, and attend Divine worship regularly. Lying 
and profane language were strictly forbidden. His 
father was neither rich nor poor, and taught him 
to work. From his youth his education was very 
limited, his schooling, all told, consisting of but 
twenty days. 



134 EAELY HISTORY OF THE 

When lie was nine years old his mother took him 
to a Baptist meeting; here, under the influence of 
the sermon, was his first awakening to his individual 
responsibility to God. After this he often reflected 
on the judgment-day, and the miseries of an interm- 
inable hell, till a trembling would seize him, and 
then would he begin to pray in earnest. Soon after 
this, he says : "I heard another preacher, who told 
me how to pray and exercise faith in believing on 
the Lord Jesus. The next morning, as I was walk- 
ing along, the Lord gave me such a spirit of wrest- 
ling that my faith took hold on God; and, in a 
moment, such a light broke in upon my soul, and 
such beams of Divine love, that I praised his hal- 
lowed name for the unspeakable riches he had be- 
stowed upon my poor soul. I enjoyed his presence 
for years; but no one having spoken to me about 
joining the Church, I consequently did not present 
myself. I soon began to mix with the wicked, and 
lost my enjoyment, backsliding from one thing to 
another till I became very wicked, and even doubted 
my conversion. Then, to quiet my conscience, I 
tried to believe the doctrines of Calvinism, besides 
going to every Baptist meeting to confirm myself in 
the dogma of fate. In my most solemn moments I 
could not believe these things myself, and yet I 
often labored hard to make others believe them. 
My besetting sin was profanity, which was often a 
great cause of grief to my mother and sister. The 
strivings of the Holy Spirit had left me and I often 



WEST AND NOETH-WEST. 135 

feared that my damnation was sealed, and that the 
earth would open and swallow me up. I thought 
men and devils had combined to take away the last 
vestige of comfort that was left me. At last I fell 
on my face, and, with all my guilt and weight of sin, 
hell seemed to move from beneath to meet me at 
my coming. 

^' But in my extreme anguish of spirit God showed 
himself unto me ; and by faith I realized such a full- 
ness in Jesus that I once more ventured out on his 
precious promises; and I found, of a truth, that the 
virtue of his blood shed for me had healed every 
wound that sin had made. Then I felt to exclaim, 
loving Savior ! blessed Jesus ! I now consecrate 
my all to thee, for time and for eternity; thou art 
the one altogether lovely, and I will praise thee 
with all my powers. Then I went out to find a fel- 
low Christian, that I might talk with him of my 
newly found happiness. It was on the Sabbath day; 
and I had barely commenced telling him, when he 
proposed to me to swap horses. I regret to say that 
this man was a member of the Baptist Church; but 
so it was, and it had the influence to turn me to 
seek some other denomination than that toward 
whose members I had always felt such a brotherly 
love. I remembered that there was a Methodist 
class meeting about twelve miles distant; and I 
turned my horse, in hopes of getting there before 
the meeting closed. I was too late ; and I dis- 
mounted and knelt down and prayed for direction. 



136 EARLY HISTORY OF THE 

Then I remembered tliat the members were to re- 
turn by a certain house, and I staid there and 
awaited their arrival. Their songs seemed so heav- 
enly that they exceeded any thing that I had yet 
heard. When they began to talk on the subject of 
religion, I found that their experience was like my 
own, and that it was no more nor less than the love 
of God shed abroad in the heart. Then, when I be- 
gan to tell them what God had done for me, the 
power of the Lord came down. While some prayed, 
others were praising and singing ; and sinners began 
to cry for mercy. The meeting continued all night. 
In the morning I returned home, rejoicing on my 
way, and blessing God for what I had seen, and for 
what my poor soul had enjoyed. When I got home, 
and told them of God's goodness, they thought I 
was crazy ; and my exhortations to them to seek the 
Lord were so strange to them that I feared that my 
message was as seed sown by the wayside. 

'^ It was not long before I visited again my brethren 
in class, and I was called upon to lead the class. It 
was a great trial to me, and yet I bore the cross. 
During our exercises the Lord poured out his Spirit 
again. Some shouted aloud, and others cried for 
mercy, and such a time of power was it that it lasted 
till dawn of day. Such a meeting I had never wit- 
nessed before. Soon after this our new preacher came 
on from Conference. He preached with great power, 
and invited such as wished to join on trial to remain 
in class. I embraced this, my first opportunity, 



WEST AND NORTH-WEST. 137 

and joined the Church in July, 1786. I was ap- 
pointed class-leader; and the burden of lost souls 
was so rolled upon me that I gave myself up wholly 
to the work. Seeing me such a laborer in the vine- 
yard, the preachers soon wished me to accompany 
them on the circuit. My inability kept me back for 
some time ; but at last I felt the command — ' Go 
ye into all the world and preach the Gospel' — in 
such an imperious manner that I gave myself up to 
the great work. I offered myself, and was received 
on probation in 1804, and appointed, as the Minutes 
show, to the Red Eiver circuit; in 1805 to Living- 
ston; in 1806 to Hartford circuit, William M'Ken- 
dree presiding elder." 

Thus far I have given the narrative as I found it 
in manuscript. I shall now complete it as I heard 
it from the lips of a third person. In the Spring 
of 1806 brother Walker accompanied William M'- 
Kendree to Illinois to spy out the promised land. 
He found it so beautiful that he determined at once 
to come over and possess it, believing that here was 
to be a great moral conflict, and that he was to be 
the Joshua to lead on his spiritual Israel to possess 
it. On his return he continued to preach on his 
circuit till Conference, and then he was sent to Illi- 
nois. He hastened home to his family, and arrived 
there about twelve o'clock. He told them of his 
new field of labor, and, after some refreshment, com- 
menced packing up for a removal. By ten o'clock 

the next morning he and his family were on their 

12 



138 EARLY HISTORY OF THE 

way to Illinois. Horses were their only means of 
conveyance — four in all — one for himself, and one 
for his wife and youngest daughter, who rode be- 
hind her; one for his eldest daughter, about eighteen 
years of age — now sister Everett, who gives me this 
interesting account of the early settling in the 
West — and a fourth for his library, or books which 
he had for sale. 

It was one of the duties of preachers in those 
days to sell books to those among whom they 
labored, and it was one of the great means in dis- 
tributing the truth and helping to build up the 
cause of Christ. The family had each but one 
change of apparel, and that they had spun and 
woven before they left home. They brought no fur- 
niture, not even a bed, but started for the wilder- 
ness with as few worldly goods as possible. 

Soon after crossing the Ohio Eiver he found him- 
self and family fully entered into the Indian Terri- 
tory. At this time a fearful rain-storm met them, 
and they were rejoiced at being able to take shelter 
in a deserted wigwam, even drenched with water, 
besides the discomforts of cold and hunger. They 
remained here three days, till the storm had sub- 
sided, and the streams had fallen a little. They 
then packed up and plunged again into the wilder- 
ness, to encounter much water and much hard labor, 
to endure hunger and long, wearisome rides, till they 
reached Turkey Hill, a settlement in Illinois, and 
their home in the West. Here they staid with 



WEST AND NORTH-WEST. 139 

brother William Scott and family, a whole-souled 
Methodist, and a fast friend ever after; yet here, 
with all their plainness of apparel, brother Walker 
and his daughter had to take a severe lecture from 
sister Scott, because the daughter had worn a dress 
with short sleeves, or those which came only to the 
elbows, as was the fashion in those days. They 
looked so unmethodistic to sister Scott that she 
could not forbear speaking to them of the sinfulness 
of such things. 

The only house that could be obtained for the 
preacher and family was an old log-cabin belonging 
to brother Scott. It had a plank floor, and a stick 
chimney with a hole burned out in the back so large 
that a modern cooking-stove could be thrown through 
it, as sister Everett expressed it, and the hearth so 
low down that the edge of the floor made seats for 
the whole family around the fire; and this was the 
parsonage and Winter quarters of the old hero of 
Methodism in Illinois. Having got into his smoky 
house, he made some few repairs, and arranged them- 
selves as well as their circumstances would permit; 
he entered upon his labors with Methodistic zeal, 
and soon the good work began, and souls were con- 
verted. As the New- Year drew nigh he gave out 
that he would hold a watch-night. It was a great 
question among them all, ''What could he mean by 
watch-night?" And he replied that he was going 
to watch for the devil, and urged them all to come 
out. The result was a crowded house. At this 



140 EARLY HISTORY OF THE 

meeting was held, also, the first love-feast. It was 
a successful one, and the beginning of better things. 
The next Spring following this watch-night, April, 
1807, was held the first camp meeting in the State 
of Illinois. 

To show to what rude means one had to resort at 
that time, we can relate an incident. One evening 
there were no lights to be had on the camp -ground, 
and it was also very windy. An old lady vol- 
untered to meet the difficulty. Accordingly she 
stepped aside and doffed a white cotton skirt, which 
she had suspended as a lamp-shade. Then she 
caused it to be expanded by means of a twig bent 
in a circular form — a suggestion of hoops, which had 
not been thought of in that early day. Then, for 
the light, she scooped out a large turnip, which she 
filled with lard. She then twisted a wick of cotton, 
and rubbing it in the lard set fire to it after it had 
been suspended inside of the first hooped-skirt and 
lamp-shade ever used in Illinois. By this light 
Jesse Walker was able to preach that evening. The 
preachers present were Walker, Biggs, and Charles 
Mathew, exhorting and preaching alternately. 

The following Spring another was held by brother 
Walker. The ground was selected in the following 
manner : One day while brother Walker was looking 
for a suitable place for holding the meeting, he came 
to where a tree had been torn down by lightning. 
Here, thought he, is a visible display of God's 
power; and why not select this, as we may have a 



I 

WEST AND NORTH-WEST. 141 

display of his migtity power for the salvation of souls ? 
and, as if inspiration rested on him for a moment, 
said, in a very impressive manner, " Here it shall be." 
The usual preparations were soon made, log-pens 
thrown up and covered with clap-boards, conven- 
iencies for fifty families. These tents or pens encir- 
cled a large space of ground, leaving only passage- 
ways out into the open forest. On Friday morning 
the meeting commenced, by the sounding of a horn 
as a signal to rise; then, at the second sounding, 
they were to assemble at the altar for prayer before 
breakfast. Having assembled, a hymn was first 
lined and then sung. Those assembled on this morn- 
ing were very despondent, as the presiding elder, 
William M'Kendree, had not yet arrived. While 
they were yet singing, all of a sudden they heard at a 
distance the sound of voices as if joining in singing 
one of the sweet songs of Zion. They were wel- 
come sounds as they came rolling on through the 
forest, and attracted the attention of all at the altar. 
And as they drew nearer, we caught the inspiration 
of the song, in which they were pouring out their 
voices, and joined in the melody. It was our elder, 
m company with a number of preachers; and the 
song or hymn was continued amidst hearty hand- 
shakings, tears and smiles, and shouting of hosannas, 
which continued fifteen or twenty minutes before 
the preachers could get ojff their horses. Soon 
breakfast was served up, and all thereafter were at 
the stand ready for worship. 



142 EARLY HISTORY OF THE 

William M'Kendree preached, and the work of 
the Lord commenced with great earnestness and 
zeal. Those who accompanied the presiding elder 
were Abbot Goddard, James Quinn, Eev. Killybrew, 
Thomas Lathley, and Charles Matheny. The meet- 
ing continued till Monday ; great power was manifest, 
and many were brought into the kingdom, by the 
blood of sprinkling. One week after, another was 
held a few miles south of the present Edwardsville. 
The first camp-ground was called Shiloh ; the second, 
Bethel, and the third, Eunice. Col. Shelby, of Ken- 
tucky, who was a warm personal friend of brother 
Walker, attended some of these meetings in com- 
pany with the elder. 



WEST AND NORTH-WEST. 143 



CHAPTER XV. 

I SHALL devote the present chapter to statistics 
and reminiscences of the progress of Methodism in 
the Fox Eiver locality. 

In 1835 William Eoyal was appointed to Fox 
River mission, his associate being Samuel Pillsbury ; 
Wilder B. Mack was presiding elder. Brother Royal 
formed, as well as traveled, this extensive and most 
laborious circuit. I give the preaching-places and 
the classes and class-leaders, so far as I have in- 
formation : 

1. Commencing at Millbrook, on the Fox River; 
a small class. 

2. At brother Wells's, six miles south of Yorkville. 

3. Daniel Pearce's, near Oswego ; a small class. 

4. Samuel M'Carty's, near Aurora; established in 
1835. 

5. Brother Hammer's, north-east of St. Charles; 
a small class. 

6. Rev. Charles Geary's, six miles north of Na- 
perville. 

7. At Salt Creek; no class. 

8. At Elk G-rove, class formed in 1836 ; members' 
names: Rev. Caleph Lamb and wife, Seth Peck and 
wife, S. Wheeler (leader) and wife. 



144: EARLY HISTORY OF THE 

9. Wheeling — class-leader, brother Wissencroff; 
members, his wife, sister Filkins, and a few others. 

10. Plum G-rove; no class. 

11. Alexander's; no class. 

12. Father Noble's, on north branch of Chicago 
Kiver; a small class. 

13. Liberty ville ; a small class under brother 
Brooks. 

14. Ladd's, near the State line, north. 

15. Marsh's Grove; brother Bussell's. 

16. M'Lain's, at Deer Grove. 

17. Dundee; a small class. 

18. Crystal Lake. 

19. Virginia. 

20. Pleasant Grove; a class. 

21. Marengo. 

22. At Mason's, two miles below Belvidere. 

23. Brother Enoch's, two miles north-east of 
Bockford. 

24. At the mouth of the Kishwalky. 

25. At brother Lee's; a class of six. 

26. At Judge Daniel's; a small class under brother 
White. 

At the request of the presiding elder I assisted 
brother Royal in holding his fourth quarterly meet- 
ing at the last-named place ; the first ever held near 
Sycamore, or that far north. This was in 1836. 
About one hundred were present on the Sabbath. 
The meeting was very successful, and from that 
time the work has gone steadily on. Each success- 



WEST AND NOETH-WEST. 145 

ive minister has had new zeal and new success, so 
that Methodism is now the leading denomination in 
that section. Monday morning, on our return to 
Millcreek, brother Eoyal had two appointments — 
one at Squaw Grove, the 27th, on his round. From 
here we went on immediately to Samanauk, the 
28th preaching-place on the four weeks' circuit, re- 
quiring preaching every day. I preached here after 
having ridden thirty miles on Monday, at brother 
Hough's, the class-leader's, and after preaching four 
times at the quarterly meeting. 

In 1837 W. Clark was appointed to Du Page cir- 
cuit, which was a part of Fox River mission. That 
Fall, brother Wilcox formed the first class in Au- 
rora. He preached at first in Samuel M'Carty's 
house ; afterward in a small school-house. The first 
class consisted of brother M'Carty and his sister, 
now sister Hill, and a few others. The first church 
edifice in Aurora was built in 1843, the member- 
ship numbering from thirty to forty. The Board 
of Trustees consisted of brother M'Carty, C. H. 
Goodwin, P. Brown, C. E. Goodwin, and John Gib- 
son. The building was enlarged by the addition of 
twenty feet in 1852. Brother Wilcox was a fine 
preacher, an excellent pastor, very punctual in all 
his duties. In 1838 he was returned, William 
Gaddis being his assistant. He formed the first 
class in Plum Grove, consisting of brother Smith 
and wife, Joseph Smith and wife, and Seth Peck 

and wife. 

13 



146 EAELY HISTOEY OF THE 

In 1839 William Kimball and William Gaddis 
were the preachers, John Clark presiding elder. 
In 1840 William Kimball returned to Du Page cir- 
cuit, John T. Mitchell presiding elder. In 1841 
John Nason and Seymour Stover were the preachers, 
John Sinclair presiding elder. They were returned 
in 1842, Levi Jenks assistant preacher. In 1843 E- 
Springer and M. L. Noble were the preachers, S. H. 
Stocking presiding elder. In 1844 the name was 
changed to St. Charles circuit, E. Springer and Wil- 
liam Gaddis preachers, J. R. Goodrich presiding 
elder. In 1845 Solomon Stebbins and L. A. Chapin, 
James Mitchell presiding elder. In 1846 S. Steb- 
bins returned. In 1847 S. Bolles and C. Lazenby, 
John Chandler presiding elder. In 1848 B. Lowe 
and W. J. Smith, M. Bourne presiding elder. In 
1849 F. Harvey, H. Minard, A. L. Eisley presiding 
elder. In 1850 T. Hall, S. Guyer, J. Baume, L. 
Hitchcock presiding elder. In 1851 R. A. Blanch- 
ard, L. Hitchcock presiding elder. In 1852 E. H. 
Gammon, L. Hitchcock presiding elder. In 1853 S. 
Serl, S. P. Keyes presiding elder. In 1854 E. 
Brown, S. P. Keyes presiding elder. In 1856 Au- 
rora was made a station under charge of J. C. 
Sanford, E. H. Gammon presiding elder. This 
year Aurora enjoyed a gracious revival, the fruit, 
under God, of one of brother San ford's most earn- 
est and faithful efforts. 

In 1859 I visited Aurora, and going to church on 
Sunday morning discovered brother Sanford in the 



WEST AND NOETH-WEST. 147 

pulpit. He urged me to preacli on recognizing me, 
but I preferred to hear, and enjoyed one of the most 
charming discourses that I ever heard. Accompa- 
nying him home to dinner, we received a call from 
the priest of the parish, who wished to ask some 
questions if I felt free to answer. He wanted to 
know, in the first place, whether there was any dif- 
ference between the Methodism of fifty years ago 
and the present. I thought I could point out some 
difierences. To begin with, I had traveled nine 
years before I saw a Methodist preacher use notes 
in speaking. Moreover, I thought that not one-half, 
perhaps not one-quarter of the Methodists of those 
days could have got into love-feast had the sisters 
then dressed as they do now. Members of both 
sects could be recognized as such almost as far as 
they could be seen. I related an anecdote, in illus- 
tration of this, of a girl under conviction, who, 
hearing of a Methodist meeting fifteen miles distant, 
started on foot to go to it. Arriving near the 
church, she came to where two roads met. Uncer- 
tain which to take, she concluded to sit down till 
the people should come along, and follow those wear- 
ing plain coats and bonnets. I thought that Meth- 
odists might still be known by their dress, since 
now they dressed so much finer than many other 
people. That reminded the priest of a little occur- 
rence. He took his daughter, a few days before, to 
a milliner to purchase a bonnet. After looking at 
several, which were thought too gay, he asked what 



148 EARLY HISTORY OF THE 

kind of bonnet the Methodist ladies wore. ''0/' re- 
plied the milliner, ''they are the most fashionable 
-people in Aurora." 

When I entered the church in the morning I had 
noticed that brother Sanford appeared very much 
.puzzled. He explained the matter as follows : "I 
had," he said, "prepared full notes for one of my 
best sermons; but to have you in the pulpit and 
see me use them would spoil all. Not to ask you, 
an old minister, into the pulpit, I should feel to be 
unkind. So, after revolving the matter over, I de- 
termined to ask you, and if you would not preach, I 
would take a text and preach off-hand." " Bless 
the Lord !" said brother Jenks, " I have not heard 
you preach so good a sermon since you have been 
on the station ; and if brother Beggs's presence will 
continue to add so much to your efforts, I hope he 
will favor us with it every Sabbath." 

The second quarterly in Ottowa was held in 
1833, on which occasion I formed the first class. In 
the Winter of 1834 our quarterly meeting was held 
at the house of sister Pembrook. The people came 
from a distance of ten miles. Brother Olmsted, a 
new-comer to the State, and living some distance up 
the Illinois Kiver, heard of the meeting and came; 
and sister Pittzer came from a distance up Fox 
•Eiver. The love- feast Sunday morning was at- 
tended with great power. The preachers present 
were, John Sinclair presiding elder, William Eoyal, 
and myself. Sister Pittzer became very happy, and, 



WEST AND NOETH-WEST. 149 

thougli sixty years of age, seemed to renew her 
youtli under Divine influences. Her loud shouts 
of ''Glory to God!" alarmed a sister of another de- 
nomination, who thought a word of caution neces- 
sary. Taking the arm of the old sister she said, 
"Do thyself no harm." ''Bless the Lord!" ex- 
claimed the good sister, "religion never harmed 
any body yet!" Brother Sinclair and I preached 
alternately ; each taking his turn at exhorting. 
Brother Boyal was mighty in prayer. Brother 01m- 
stead was so delighted with his first quarterly meet- 
ing that he told a brother that if he only had brother 
Beggs to preach, brother Sinclair to exhort — for he 
was mighty therein — and brother Koyal to pray, he 
wanted no more. 

In 1847 Du Page circuit was changed to Naper- 
ville. I give the subsequent statistics: In 1847 J. 
S. Best preacher, J. Chandler presiding elder; mem- 
bers, 276. In 1848 S. E. Beggs and C. Batch- 
elor preachers, M. Bourne presiding elder; mem- 
bers, 270. In 1849 0. A. Hunger preacher, A. 
L. Eisley presiding elder; members, 270. In 1850 
J. C. Stoughton preacher, A. L. Eisley presiding 
elder; members, 186. In 1851 J. L. Jenkins 
preacher, John Sinclair presiding elder; members, 
189. In 1852 J. P. Vance and A. Holcomb 
preachers, John Sinclair presiding elder; members, 
184. In 1853 E. Beatty preacher, S. P. Keyes 
presiding elder ; members, 273. In 1854 0. House 
preacher; S. P. Keyes presiding elder; members, 



150 EARLY HISTORY OF THE 

206. In 1855 0. House preacher, J. Flowers 
presiding elder; members, 214. In 1856 B. Close 
preacher, J. W. Agard presiding elder; members, 
192. In 1857 both returned; members, 192. In 
1858 — Downer's Grove embraced — J. Note preacher, 
J. W. Agood presiding elder; members, 174. In 
1859 E. Stone preacher, L. Hitchcock presiding 
elder; members, 172. In 1860 S. Burdock preacher, 
E. M. Boring presiding elder; members, 142. In 
1861 both returned; members, 144. In 1862 J. T. 
Hannah preacher, E. M. Boring presiding elder; 
members, 120. In 1863 both returned; members, 
120. Methodism has always had up-hill work on 
this charge, and so have other denominations, except 
the Evangelical Germans and the Catholics ; nor does 
the prospect seem more flattering. 



WEST AND NORTH-WEST. 151 



CHAPTER XVI. 

The present chapter contaiDS statistics and remi- 
niscences of the early days of Methodism in Illinois 
at large, and especially in Wabash Eiver and middle 
localities of the State, with a historical sketch of 
early explorations in localities embraced in the 
narrative. 

The first Methodist preacher in Illinois was Joseph 
Lillard. He was admitted on trial in Kentucky in 
1790, in which year he traveled the Limestone cir- 
cuit, traveliDg the Salt Eiver circuit in 1791. The 
next we hear of him is in 1793, in Illinois. It is 
claimed that he formed the first class in this State 
in that year, in ISTew Design settlement, some dis- 
tance south from Salem meeting-house. Captain 
Joseph Ogel leader. The next regular preacher was 
Hosea Biggs. He arrived in 1796, and his useful 
labors continued uninterrupted till 1841, in which 
year, at the age of eighty-one years, he died at his 
home, a few miles east of Belleville. 

In the year 1804 Benjamin Young came to Illinois 
as a traveling preacher on the missionary work. 
Lewis Garrett was presiding elder. Governor Bey- 
nolds states, in his history of Illinois, that Young fre- 
quently preached at his father's house, in Randolph 
county, and was the first preacher he remembers 



152 EARLY HISTORY OF THE 

hearing. He traveled over the entire American 
settlements. Subsequently, in 1805, brother Biggs 
preached at his father's house. These were the first 
religious meetings ever held in Eandolph county. 
Eev. Thomas Harrison emigrated to Illinois in 1804, 
and continued to preach the Grospel, more or less, 
during the subsequent half century. In 1805 Jo- 
seph Oglesby traveled the Illinois circuit — a good 
preacher, who labored with marked success. I heard 
him in 1820. He stood full six feet, very straight, 
had dark hair, a penetrating eye beneath a promi- 
nent forehead, and a thin, tapering face. His man- 
ner was very dignified, and his gestures very correct, 
and his whole manner impressive. The efi'ect of his 
discourse was sometimes overwhelming. He once 
preached at my camp meeting on the Vincennes cir- 
cuit, from the text, '' The Master is come, and call- 
eth for thee." The audience, saint and sinner, was 
completely carried away, and I was so overcome 
that I did not feel that I could preach for a week 
afterward. 

The first settlement in Edgar county was made in 
the Spring of 1817, on the arm of Grand Prairie, 
by John Stratton, Wm. Whitley, Blackman, and a 
few others. Col. Jonathan Mayo came in the Fall 
of the same year. This territory was then within 
the bounds of Edwards county. Illinois did not be- 
come a State till the following year. Terre Haute, 
Indiana, was laid out, and a few lots sold in 1816. 
Government land was entered at that time at two 



WEST AND NORTH-WEST. 153 

dollars per acre, one-fourth down, and the balance in 
two, three, and four years. The Vermilion circuit 
was the first formed in this region, in the Fall of 1823; 
H. Vredenb\irg preacher, S. H. Thompson presiding 
elder. The circuit embraced Edgar, Clark, and 
Vermilion counties, in Illinois, and Vermilion and 
Vigo counties in Indiana — that portion of the latter 
lying west of the Wabash River. The appointments 
ran thus: Mount Carmel, Wm. M'Reynolds; Wa- 
bash and Mount Vinnonia, W. H. Smith and 0. 
Riddle; Kaskaskia, T. B. Leach; Illinois, John 
Dew and 0. Fisher; Cash River, Joseph Patterson; 
Shoal Creek, John Davis and Jesse Green; Sanga- 
mon, John Miller; Mississippi, Isaac Piggott; Ver- 
milion, H. Vredenburg and R. Delap* 

The first class formed in this section was in 1819, 
in the house' of Jonathan Mayo, on the north arm 
of Grand Prairie, by Joseph Curtis, who had just 
emigrated from Ohio; a worthy and efficient local 
preacher. The first quarterly meeting conference 
was on the same prairie, at the house of Rev. John 
M'Reynolds; Col. J. Mayo was recording steward; 
H. Vredenburg was preacher in charge; S. H. 
Thompson presiding elder. The Illinois Conference 
embraced Indiana also — two districts in each — John 
Strange and James Armstrong presiding elders in 
Indiana, and Charles Holliday and S. H. Thompson 
in Illinois. 

These two States had 13,042 members, and forty- 
four traveling preachers. Not one of these is now 



154 EARLY HISTORY OF THE 

a member of the Illinois Conference except tlio 
noble-hearted, iron-framed pioneer, Peter Cart- 
wright. Prominent among the preachers of that 
day was John Fox, of precious memory — neat in 
person and attire, correct in his preaching, diligent 
in pastoral visitation, strict in administration of dis- 
cipline, and powerful in prayer — his labors never 
failing to result in the salvation of souls. This year 
closed the labors of Eev. C. Holliday as presiding 
elder. He was my elder when I was an the Vin- 
cennes circuit, and few men ever proved a greater 
blessing to me. The precision and directness of the 
appeals in his edifying, soul-stirring sermons, pro- 
duced effects which remained fresh and powerful for 
weeks. In 1833 James M'Kean and T. Files were 
appointed to Paris circuit, both men of great service 
to the Church. Brother Files has a son still living 
in Clark county, a worthy and efficient steward in 
the Church. Eev. H. Crews and G-. W. Bobbins 
were very successful presiding elders on the Danville 
district. The latter was somewhat slow of speech, 
but always paid his hearers for waiting. Brother 
Crews, now of Eock Kiver Conference — of whom a 
biography is given in another chapter — is among 
the most popular and useful of those occupying the 
same responsible position in his Conference. In Ed- 
gar county the Methodist Church still maintains its 
original position in advance of other denominations. 
Brother Exum Evans was one of a large family 
that moved from North Carolina with their father, 



WEST AND NORTH-WEST. 155 

and settled in Clark county in 1812. His parents 
were Quakers, after the ''most straitest" of which 
sect the children were all raised. They made their 
home in the midst of a large Quaker settlement 
near York, not far from the line of Crawford county. 
They held their meetings in a small log school-house, 
and strictly forbade their children going to the Meth- 
odist meetings. Brother Exum did not, therefore, 
hear a Methodist preacher till he was fifteen years 
old. When on a visit to his uncle's, Eev. brother 
Stewart held a two days' meeting, assisted by brother 
Hearn. Exum Evans heard Stewart here, who, as 
he describes, preached with such power and assur- 
ance that his message seemed to come from God. 
Such preaching he had never heard before. When 
brother Hearn, whose appearance was not so pre- 
possessing as some, arose to follow Stewart, Exum 
was afraid he would spoil all that had been said; 
but to his astonishment the stream of eloquence 
deepened and widened, till it became overwhelming 
and irresistible, and great power of the Spirit at- 
tended the Word. 

The meeting, says Exum, greatly prepossessed us 
in favor of Methodism. It took place at the log- 
cabin of brother Isaac Snipes, who was the leader 
of the first class ever formed in that section. It 
consisted of brother J. Snipes and Nancy his wife, 
Archibald Comstock and Charity his wife, and 
Sally Millard and Elizabeth Park. It was held 
about three miles south of York. 



156 EAELY HISTORY OF THE 

Some fifteen years after this, Eev. Wm. Crissey 
came upon this circuit, and held a protracted meet- 
ing in a school-house in the same neighborhood. It 
continued till there were about eighty converted, 
one-half of whom were Quakers, young and old. 
Brother Exum was among nine children who em- 
braced religion and joined our Church, as did also his 
brother before his death. Mr. Maffitt, in describing 
the Eastern preachers, spoke of their method as being 
as a general rule systematic and phlegmatic ; but the 
Western preachers — their voice was like a mountain 
horn. Our camp meetings were peculiarly the 
school of this style, in which the appeals had all the 
freedom of the open air and the winds, and the di- 
rectness and speed of the lightning. I attended such a 
meeting at Mount Carmel in 1825, over which S. H. 
Thompson, presiding elder, presided. The converts 
in those days were born strong into the kingdom, 
and entered it shouting. Charles Slocomb, who la- 
bored in the Wabash region, was such a preacher as 
I have described — a local preacher, yet his ministra- 
tions invariably attended with great power. 

At the above camp meeting a most hardened sin- 
ner was forced to cry for mercy, under one of his 
powerful discourses. He was portraying the misery 
of the damned, when this man, an old Eevolutionary 
soldier who had been standing on the outskirts of 
the throng, came rushing toward the altar, crying 
at the top of his voice, "Quarter! quarter!" Fall- 
ing on his knees he exclaimed, "I am an old soldier; 



WEST AND NOETH-WEST. 157 

I fought througli the Eevolutionary war; I have 
heard the cannon roar in battle, and seen the blood 
pour forth in streams; but since God made me, I 
have never heard such cannonading as this. I 
yield! I yield!" 

I add, as appropriate in this connection, brief rem- 
iniscences of early Methodism in Sangamon county. 
Sangamon, in the Pottawotamie language, means a 
plenty to eat; or, expressed in Scripture parlance, 
a land flowing with milk and honey. But, in fact, 
about all of Illinois is as good as Sangamon, and 
equally attractive. In June, 1822, a colony of six 
families moved into this county from Kentucky, and 
settled on Nigger Creek. They were Methodists, 
and brought with them tracts and Testaments. 
They at once formed a Sabbath school, M. Conover 
superintendent. It soon numbered thirty-five schol- 
ars and four teachers, mostly Presbyterians and 
Baptists — some beginning with the alphabet and 
learning to read the New Testament. 

Sister Catherine C. Kucker, from whom I re- 
ceived this information, stated that one old Baptist 
was so afraid of Sabbath schools that, when solicited 
to send his children, he replied that he would as 
soon send them to a horse-race. But he was finally 
induced to send them; and he was so pleased with 
their progress that he gave liberally toward the 
purchase of more books. The first camp meeting in 
Sangamon county was held in the Fall of 1823, or 
1824, at Bock Creek, Gorden Prairie. There were 



158 EARLY HISTORY OF THE 

about nine tents, and a congregation of perhaps 
eight hundred on the Sabbath. James Simms con- 
ducted it. He was a powerful preacher. The meet- 
ing continued three or four days. 

As soon as the State Government was established, 
emigration began to increase, and there continued to 
flow in a more wealthy and permanent population. 
The State purchased land and made better settle- 
ments, schools were established, and houses of wor- 
ship were erected in many colonies. The farmers 
raised a surplus of produce, mills were built, and 
considerable was exported; commerce began to 
assume a regularity which is necessary to its per- 
manence and success. The people were greatly in 
debt, however, and the dearth of currency retarded 
the prosperity of the new State in a great measure, 
yet not entirely. In April, 1829, Abner Eads, J. 
Hervey, and some others, left St. Clair county, and 
located in Peoria. This was the first settlement of 
this city by Americans. 

A few years after our Indian agency was estab- 
lished here, Marquette, and Joliet, of Quebec, with 
others, in 1671, determined to explore the land to- 
ward the setting sun and the father of waters, the 
Mississippi. On the 13th of May, 1673, a little 
band of seven left with two bark canoes, in which 
they carried a scanty store of provision, bound they 
knew not where. After reaching Green Bay they 
entered Fox Eiver, and in their ascent endured 
much hard labor and suffering. They reached the 



WEST AND NOETH-WEST. 159 

Kickapoos and Miamies' village, beyond which point 
no white man had ever traveled. The natives were 
astonished at their daring and enterprise, and on the 
10th of June they left their village with two braves 
to guide and assist them through the Sac nation 
and the marshes of that region to a navigable point 
on Wisconsin E.iver. 

After praying fervently to the mother of Jesus 
for protection, they committed themselves to the 
vast flowing river, till upon the 17th of June they 
entered the Mississippi. Marquette says of this, 
''It is impossible to express the joy which I felt 
when I first found myself on the bosom of this 
mighty river. The abundance of birds and fishes 
and their tameness was astonishing to me. A large 
fish came near breaking our canoe in pieces." Their 
voyage was increased in pleasantness in their re- 
ception, by a tribe of Indians, the Illinois. After 
many complimentary speeches and presents, a great 
feast was given to the Europeans, consisting of 
honey, fish, and roast dog. After the feast they 
were paraded through the town with great cere- 
mony and speech-making, and escorted to their 
canoes by six hundred people. 

The rolling tide soon bore them to the Pekitanoni, 
or Missouri ; thence passing a dangerous rock in the 
river, came to the Ohio, a stream which makes but 
a small figure in Father Marquette's map. At 
the mouth of the Arkansas they were attacked by 
some warriors, and had nearly lost their lives; but 



160 EARLY HISTORY OF THE 

Marquette resolutely presented the pipe of peace, and 
this softened the hearts of the old men. They were 
permitted to go on their journey. After some 
difficulty they reached the Illinois River, through 
which they sailed up to the lake. ^'No where on my 
journey," says Marquette, ''did I see such grounds, 
meadows, and forests as on this river — the abund- 
ance of game, buffalo, deer, wild-cats, bustards, swans, 
ducks, and beavers." 

In September the party, without loss or injury, 
reached Green Bay, and reported their discoveries; 
an important one in that day, but of which we 
have no record save the brief narrative of M. Joliet. 
These were the first Europeans that passed through 
our State. La Salle was their successor. 

The Eoman Catholics were the first to plant the 
standard of the Cross in the Mississippi Valley. 
From Canada to New Orleans they labored to 
Christianize the savage and the scattered white 
population; but, after all, what has Jesuitism done 
to Christianize this great valley compared with the 
results of evangelical efforts? The State and river 
takes its name from a tribe of Indians called the 
Illinois. The word is a mixture of French and 
Indian. 



WEST AND NORTH-WEST. 161 



CHAPTER XVII. 

In 1828 Jesse Walker was superintendent of Fox 
Eiver mission, John Dew presiding elder. In 1829 
the name changed to Salem mission. Peter Cart- 
wright was then presiding elder, and Isaac Scarritt 
preacher in charge. Jesse Walker was sent to Des- 
plaines mission, and the same year he formed a class 
at Walker's Grove. This, I think, was the first 
class in the bounds of the Eock Eiver Conference, 
but as soon as the mission was abandoned the class 
was given up. This same year Jesse Walker settled 
in Walker's Grove, now Plainfield. The names of 
the above class were as follows: Jesse Walker and 
Susannah his wife, James Walker and wife, brother 
Pisk and wife, Timothy B. Clark and wife, brother 
Weed and wife — about twelve in all. 

This same year there was a class formed in Galena 
by John Dew ; yet when I examine closely I have to 
decide in favor of Plainfield's being the first perma- 
nent class. In the year 1833 I succeeded Jesse 
Walker, commencing in the Fall of 1832. I took 
charge of Desplaines mission, Jesse Walker presiding 
elder. In the Winter of 1833 the first temperance 
meeting was held in this upper country. The speak- 
ers were Mr. Arnold, James Walker, and myself. 

We made considerable efibrt, which was productive 

14 



162 EARLY HISTORY OF THE 

of some good; yet we were partially shorn of our 
strength, there being a small store in the place, 
where, among other things, whisky was kept for sale, 
and as the firm, two of the leading men present, 
would not sign the pledge, it kept many others back. 
Yet those who did sign stood firm, and we have con- 
tinued to battle for the cause of temperance ever 
since. 

We then raised, by the assistance of brother Ross, 
a permanent fund of $15,000, by means of which we 
drove the last doggery from Plainfield. These same 
efforts might be made in other places were they to 
continue unitedly and perseveringly. May the Lord 
pity the faint-hearted, and make them more than 
ever bold and able advocates of this great cause! 
This year was closed with some conversions; mem- 
bers returned, thirty-four. 

In the Fall of 1833 I was returned to Desplaines 
mission. This was the year when the tide of specu- 
lation rolled in upon us of which I have before made 
mention. The year closed with a membership of 
fifty-seven, J. Sinclair presiding elder. In the Fall 
of 1834 David Blackwell was my successor — a fine 
young preacher and a good pastor. He was on the 
ground to receive all emigrants, who, by this time, 
were very numerous, both from the East and South. 
The year closed with a good camp meeting. The 
members returned numbered one hundred and sev- 
enteen, J. Sinclair presiding elder. He was returned 
in the Fall of 1835, with W. B. Mack presiding 



WEST AND NOETH-WEST. 163 

elder. He had a pleasant year, with some increase; 
members returned, one hundred and sixty. 

In the Fall of 1836 the name was changed to 
Joliet circuit, and I was appointed here, with M. Tur- 
ner for my colleague, W. B. Mack presiding elder. 
This year hard riding, much labor, and great suc- 
cess ; members returned, two hundred and fifty-three, 
embracing Plainfield. In this year I got up a sub- 
scription to build a church in Plainfield. It was 
soon under way, and finished before the hard times 
set in, but it was a long time before we paid off its 
debt. The Baptists built one also, about the same 
time, and we soon had two churches to worship in, 
and a glorious revival was the result. In 1837, on 
my return to Joliet, I got up a subscription, and a 
church was commenced which William Crissey, my 
successor, finished the next year. He was a good 
preacher, a faithful pastor, and possessed a good 
business tact. He had a good revival, and a return 
of two hundred and thirty-seven members. The de- 
crease is accounted for by a division of the work. 

Forked Creek circuit was formed in 1838. Wil- 
liam Crissey, A. Chenoweth, and myself as super- 
numerary, were the preachers. This year our labors 
were so successful that our members numbered one 
hundred and eighty-eight. In 1839 a new circuit 
was formed called Milford, Elihu Springer preacher 
in charge, and J. Sinclair presiding elder. This cir- 
cuit embraced all east of Fox Eiver, with Oswego 
and Plainfield. The same preachers and presiding 



164 EARLY HISTORY OF THE 

elder were returned in 1840, and a gracious revival 
was experienced, especially in Plainfield. Such a 
time of confession and humiliation on the part of the 
members of all denominations had never been wit- 
nessed, and the result was the conversion of sinners 
and the building up of membership of all Churches. 
Dr. Comstock's labors were greatly blessed. He had 
but few equals in preaching, and the Word came 
with power and full of the Holy Ghost. This year 
he returned two hundred and four members. 

In 1841 the Conference appointed Rufus Lum- 
mery and H. Hadley, with J. Sinclair presiding 
elder. This year Rufus Lummery became dissatis- 
fied with Methodist customs and left, taking as 
many with him as he could persuade to follow his 
example, and joined the Wesley ans. Members re- 
turned, two hundred and fifty. In 1842 Wesley 
Batchelor and R. R. Wood preachers, J. Sinclair 
presiding elder. A good year and labors blest; 
members returned, two hundred and sixty-four. In 
1843 S. F. Denning, S. H. Stocking presiding elder; 
faithful in their labors; yet hard work and poor 
pay. Number returned, two hundred and sixty- 
four. In 1844 S. R. Beggs and John Hewter, Luke 
Hitchcock presiding elder. We had at Plainfield a 
good revival and a number added at other points, 
embracing Morris, Conger's, and Gleason's Ridge; 
number returned, three hundred and thirty-five. In 
1845 Levi Jenks and James W. Burton, L. Hitch- 
cock presiding elder. The preachers were much 



WEST AND NORTH-WEST. 165 

beloved, and kept the work in a healthy condition; 
number returned, three hundred and twenty- nine. 
In 1846 John Agard and W. B. Atkinson, M. Bourne 
presiding elder; number returned, three hundred 
and sixty-six. In 1847 A. Wolliscraft and J. 
Lazenby, M. Bourne presiding elder; number re- 
turned, three hundred and fifty-seven. Had a good 
revival at Lisbon and Plainfield. 

In 1848 Plainfield was made a station, Jonathan 
Stoughton preacher, M. Bourne presiding elder. 
Some extensive revivals. Both men returned in 
1849. Conference held at Plainfield this year. In 
1850 S. Stover, one of our best preachers, a strict 
disciplinarian; members returned, one hundred and 
forty-seven. In 1851 S. Stover was returned. He 
labored faithfully as preacher and pastor, with more 
pruning of unprofitable members. Our condition 
as a Church might be better to-day, if more mem- 
bers were lopped ofi". Yet we had additions, how- 
ever, to keep up our number, one hundred and forty- 
seven. Quarterage light. How much the Church 
still owes to her faithful .preachers ! Their untiring 
labors can never be repaid this side heaven. In 
1852 David Cassiday was appointed at Plainfield. 
The way was prepared for a good work, and he 
commenced in earnest. His labors were greatly 
blest, 0. A. Walker presiding elder; number re- 
turned, one hundred and eighty-nine. In 1853 he 
was returned and had another prosperous year, 0. 
A. Walker presiding elder. A number of conver- 



166 EARLY HISTORY OF THE 



1 



sions ; members returned, three hundred and sixteen. 
In 1854 0. A. Walker and M. L. Beed; Plainfield 
and Lockport united; J. W. Flowers presiding 
elder; members returned, two hundred and four- 
teen. In 1855 S. A. W. Jewett, 0. A. Walker pre- 
siding elder. In 1855 he was returned. In 1857 
Eobert Betty, a good preacher, and one who at- 
tended to all the wants of the Church, both small 
and great; J. Gibson presiding elder; number ol 
members, one hundred and ninety-five. In 1858 
Bobert Betty was returned, and left the station 
in a healthy state; number of members, one hund- 
red and ninety-five. 

In 1859 A. W. Page preached well and visited 
the membership. We had this year the most ex- 
tensive revival that we had ever enjoyed — convic- 
tions pungent, conversions strong and clear; and 
before the meeting closed there had been about two 
hundred forward for prayer, and one hundred had 
joined the Church; members returned, thr^e hund- 
red. In 1860 he was returned, J. Gibson presiding 
elder; more pruning, and strict discipline; number 
of members, two hundred and forty-four. In 1861 
Bobert K. Bibbins ; membership diminished by prun- 
ing, removals, and deaths, to one hundred and ninety- 
four; J. Gibson presiding elder. In 1862 he was 
returned; had some conversions and additions; he 
was respected and beloved, yet was not fully appre- 
ciated; number of members, one hundred and ninety- 
seven. In 1863 C. C. Best. He requested a change, 



WEST AND NORTH-WEST. 167 

owing to many obstacles in the way of his getting 
to Plainfield, and brother M'Eeading was supplied. 
He was a fine preacher and a good pastor, and had 
some conversions ; number of members, two hundred. 
In 1864 Isaac Lyonbarger entered on the work 
with great zeal, both in preaching and visiting; and 
through his efibrts the Sabbath school interest was 
greatly blessed. During his stay we had a revival 
equal to brother Page's, in 1859, perhaps greater. 
Some valuable and steadfast accessions were made; 
yet, during his stay, there was some falling off; 
presiding elders were, first, H. Crews, and, last, 
brother Stewart. In 1867 M. Smith, a good 
preacher, powerful in exhortation and prayer. Wo 
had a number, of conversions, forty additions, and a 
donation of two hundred and seventy-five dollars. 

In the presence of Bishop Eoberts and myself Dr. 
Cartwright related the following anecdote: At one 
of the Annual Conferences the Bishop was detained 
on account of sickness, and K. E. Eoberts was 
elected Chairman to fill his place. The place was 
filled so much to the satisfaction of the Conference 
that they determined to elect him Bishop at the 
next General Conference. The first morning after 
they had all collected. Dr. Cartwright looked across 
the room and saw a fine, portly looking man, and 
asked a brother who that was? Said he, "That is 
Eobert E. Eoberts" — he was so active and expert in 
business, and withal so pleasant, that he was ad- 
mired by all the Conference. 



168 EAELY HISTORY OF THE 

When the time for the election of Bishops came 
he cast in his vote, so mirthful and so jovial as if 
all was going on to his greatest satisfaction. When 
the votes were counted, and it was found that 
Roberts came near being elected Bishop, the respons- 
ibility, in view of so great an office, seemed to over- 
come him and he was entirely unmanned. He left 
the room and sought a retired place outside in the 
grounds, where he paced back and forth in the 
greatest perturbation, and it seemed that he would 
sink under the responsibility. I have seen but few 
men that I thought were possessed of more excellent 
traits of character than Bishop Eoberts. 



WEST AND NOETH-WEST. 169 



CHAPTER XVIII. 

During the great rebellion in the South I had a 
great anxiety to participate in our struggle for lib- 
erty; but there was no opportunity till September 
14, 1864, when the way opened for me to spend 
six weeks in the work of the Christian Commission. 
Leaving home I arrived at St. Louis at the above 
date. As I could not get passage on a boat for two 
days, I entered immediately on my work there, by 
distributing books and papers among the sick in the 
hospitals. In Hickory-Street Hospital I conversed 
with about thirty members on the subject of relig- 
ion; and held a class meeting, inquiring into their 
spiritual condition, encouraging, reproving, and ex- 
horting throughout the entire hospital. I never 
knew before how peculiarly adapted to hospital 
visiting our class meetings were. 

I also visited Jefferson Barracks, and preaclied to 
some of the most hardened men, I do not think I 
should have succeeded in getting them together had 
it not been for one of their number, who, although 
somewhat under the influence of liquor, said, ''Boys, 
be still, he is an old man, and he must and shall 
have a hearing." He then made them all sit down, 
and he assisted me in singing.'**' After prayers I 

15 



170 EARLY HISTORY OF THE 

preached and distributed some papers and books 
among them, exhorting each one to prepare to meet 
his God. On Monday morning I went on board the 
steamboat Post Boy. The water was low, which 
made our passage somewhat slow. We had a mixed 
company on board of professors and irreligious; yet 
I preached to a very attentive audience, and prayed 
that it might bring forth fruit abundantly. I dis- 
tributed books to the soldiers on board. We stopped 
a short time at Cairo, and then set sail for Mem- 
phis, where were the rooms of the Christian Com- 
mission, to which I was bound. 

My field of labor was assigned me at Memphis 
and vicinity. I visited all the hospitals, and also 
the prisons, preaching, praying, and conversing with 
all, both sick and well. I believe I never gave my 
time up more fully to the work than I did during 
the two months that I spent on this mission. I gener- 
ally preached three times on the Sabbath, and several 
times through the week. Once, as I was preaching 
to the prisoners, some sitting, some standing, and 
others lying down, one of the soldiers slipped a pack 
of cards into my pocket. I had three more appoint- 
ments on that day, and seven miles to travel. For 
fear of having them seen I slipped them into another 
pocket, and forgot the circumstance till some one 
called on me for a Testament. I drew out the pack 
of cards, supposing I had found one. Judge of my 
surprise and mortification as I handed them out in 
presence of quite a number of persons. I explained 



WEST AND NOETH-WEST. 171 

the mattei*, however, and said that I was taking 
them back to commit to the fire for safe-keeping. 

On my return I was invited to preach at Hawley 
Springs by a brother of another denomination, who 
was preaching and teaching in the colored Baptist 
church. I consented to go the next Sabbath in the 
afternoon. I had to preach at half-past nine on an 
iron-clad gun-boat. After the morning service I 
walked three miles to my appointment. I took 
dinner with the high-priest of the parish, and was 
accompanied to the church by him and two colored 
brethren, all of whom sat in the pulpit. When I 
got about half through, the darkey burst into a pro- 
longed roar or shout, which so drowned my voice 
that I stopped, when they commenced shaking hands 
and shouting the louder, till one, in passing the 
pulpit, reached me his hand, shouting, ''Glory to 
God for de true Gospel!" The shouting then sub- 
sided, and I finished my sermon with an invitation 
for all who wished an interest in our prayers to rise 
up; and not a few did so. I dismissed the meeting 
with a farewell till we should meet above. 

During my stay I visited the monument of An- 
drew Jackson, and found the following inscription 
recorded upon it: 

ANDREW JACKSON, 

THE SEVENTH PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES. 

Inaugurated Jan. 8, 1859. 

THE FEDERAL UNION MUST BE PRESERVED. 

Honor and gratitude to those wJio have filled the measures of their country's glory. 
Erected in the City Court Square. 



172 EAELY HISTORY OF THE 

The second line, "The Federal Union," etc., had 
been partly chiseled out by the rebel soldiers. 

My time having expired I packed up my effects, 
and was soon on board the steamer and breasting a 
heavy current of the Father of Waters. Some time 
in the evening our boat struck a snag, and tore out 
the wheel-house and some of the paddles of the 
wheel, which disabled us, and we were obliged to 
cast anchor till morning; then we made our way 
back to Mt?mphis as best we could, and the next 
evening we started on another boat, ^ye were forty 
miles up the stream when one of the passengers 
wished the Captain to land his boat and take on 
some fruit, assuring him that there was no danger 
of rebels, as there were two fires — the signal of 
safety — to be seen burning on shore. He landed, 
and about twenty-five hands went on shore to assist 
in bringing in the fruit, when the rebels commenced 
firing with small arms, and poured a volley of lead 
into our boat. Some of them came on board and 
demanded a surrender, and threatened the engineer 
if he did not surrender they would blow out his 
brains. They were told to go to the pilot. They 
then ran into his cabin, crying, *' Surrender, sur- 
render." Major Smith, one of our paymasters, said 
to them: "Do not be in a hurry." The rebels re- 
plied by shooting him through the breast, and he 
fell to the floor. Major Beler ran down on the bow 
of the boat, and met one of the rebels; both fired, 
and both were killed. 



WEST AND NORTH-WEST. 173 

This attack commenced about midnight. Another 
rebel was shot in the breast, and when we reached 
Cairo he was yet alive. One negro was badly 
wounded. I was in bed, and, hearing the noise, it 
was some moments before I realized what was going 
on. The roar of guns, the cry of don't surren- 
der, intermingled with oaths, aroused me to a sense 
of our danger. Hastily dressing, and putting my 
money in the bottom of my socks, anticipating the 
plunder of my boots, I went out. The balls were 
yet pouring into the sides of the boat, and most of 
the passengers lying fiat on the boat to escape the 
shots. The table at which there had been card-play- 
ing was upside down, the players having left it in 
some haste. Those having money were proposing to 
give the women half if they would secure it. Every 
one seemed panic-struck, from the Colonel down to 
the private. A number of soldiers were on board, 
but mostly those who were on a furlough, having 
left their arms, and only a few had revolvers. By 
this time the boat was getting out from shore, and 
the rebels, finding some of their number killed, 
jumped overboard. It is doubtful whether they 
reached the shore; and those who had gone on shore 
for the fruit were probably taken prisoners. The 
rebel that was killed proved to be a sergeant whose 
family lived in Iowa, as some of his papers showed. 
We were told that the man who persuaded the cap- 
tain to land had laid this plot before leaving Mem- 
phis. After this we went on pleasantly till we 



174 EARLY HISTORY OF THE 

reached Cairo, and here we assisted some sick sol- 
diers on board the cars, making them as comfortable 
as we could. 

I left for St. Louis, and arriving there late in the 
afternoon on Saturday, I spent the Sabbath again in 
Jefferson Barracks. I preached at half-past ten to 
a very attentive audience, and with some liberty. 
They had a. Methodist chaplain. He had an appoint- 
ment at two o'clock in the chapel, and requested me 
to preach. We had a full house, and all attentive. 
The audience was made up of some of several denom- 
inations, and some hardened old sinners. Before I 
got through the power of the Lord was manifest 
among them. There were earnest inquirers after 
everlasting life, and shouting and amens came near 
drowning my voice. 

After the meeting closed I was introduced to the 
chaplain who was to preach in the evening — a 
brother Ives, of the Baptist persuasion. I found 
that I had known him favorably at Plainfield. He 
urged me to preach again in the evening, till finally 
I consented. The house was full, and our meeting 
was more powerful than in the afternoon. It was 
then proposed that I should remain there a week 
holding meetings, but I would not consent to this, 
having made my arrangements to be at home. Ac- 
cordingly I left on Monday morning, greatly de- 
lighted at having been able to do something in 
behalf of those who were doing so much for their 
country. 



WEST AND NORTH-WEST. 175 



CHAPTER XIX. 

EXTRACTS FROM METHODISM IN CHICAGO, GIVEN BY GRANT GOODRICH. 

The first quarterly meeting in Chicago was held 
by Jesse Walker, and John Sinclair presiding elder. 
There were present at that communion, William 
Lee, a local preacher, and wife; Charles Wisencraft 
and wife; Henry Whitehead, Mrs. E. J. Hamil- 
ton, and Hannah Harmon. Some of them are still 
living. The meeting was held in Watkins's school- 
house, on the north side of the river. It was at this 
meeting that Eev. Henry Whitehead received license 
to preach. This and the old log school-house, in 
which I formed the first class, were used as places of 
public worship by the Methodists; and when the tide 
of emigration poured in so rapidly, they found them- 
selves straitened for room. Early in the Spring of 
1834 brother Whitehead and Mr. Stewart contracted 
to build a small but comfortable house of worship, 
on the north side of the river, on the corner of North 
Water and Clark streets. It was pushed forward 
with great energy to an early completion. Jesse 
Walker preached here every Sabbath, being a sta- 
tioned preacher, and was assisted in preaching, 
praying, and exhortation by the local preachers. 

From this time Methodism began to flourish ; and 
its proportion to other denominations, was as five to 



176 EARLY HISTORY OF THE 

seven till near 1850. In 1834 John Sinclair, our 
present veteran and presiding elder, was in charge 
of the district extending from Salt Creek, east to 
the Wabash and west to the Mississippi, and all 
north of Eock Island to the last white man's cabin; 
embracing a larger territory than the present E.ock 
River Conference. Finding that wherever he had 
been, Walker had been there before him, and being 
ambitious to preach Christ first to some of the new- 
comers, he heard of a family that had just settled 
at Boot River — now Racine — and made all haste to 
bear them the offer of eternal life. Coming by the 
way of Chicago, he met brother Walker; inquiring 
after his health, he was told that he (Walker) was 
well, but very tired, as he had just been to look 
after a family recently settled at Root River. In 
despair Sinclair gave up the hope of the honor he 
had counted upon as unattainable. 

To the zeal and efficiency of John T. Mitchell, 
Chicago Methodism is greatly indebted. He gave 
to the Church a thorough organization, and laid the 
foundations of her future usefulness and stability. 
At the Conference of 1836 Rev. Otis T. Curtis 
succeeded him — a quiet, amiable, and pious man, 
but wanting in that controlling energy and efficiency 
demanded by the circumstances and the times. In 
the general commercial crash which succeeded, few 
of the members escaped. There were some who 
were so grieved at the loss of their wealth that 
they turned their back on God, despising the 



WEST AND NORTH-WEST. 177 

treasures at his riglit hand. The integrity of others 
was not proof against the sore trials of the times; 
but especially sad was the ignominious fall of our 
presiding elder, W. B. Mack. The outbreaking 
crimes and scandalous conduct of some of our mem- 
bers, who had been active and prominent in the 
Church, fell in quick succession with crushing 
weight upon the faithful few, and with our pecun- 
iary embarrassments, threatened to overwhelm and 
scatter them with shame and confusion. 

There has never been a time in the history of 
Methodism in Chicago when false brethren, wicked 
men, and tempting devils seemed so near the accom- 
plishment of its destruction as at this period. We 
felt that we were the scoff and scorn of the wicked 
and the reproach of the good. By the standard- 
bearers of our beloved Church the cause of Cod had 
been deeply, foully dishonored. Deep was the hu- 
mility to which God brought his children for their 
want of fidelity against the allurements of worldly 
wealth. He took his fan in his hand — blessed be his 
name ! — not to sweep away, but to purge and purify 
his Church. 

Still there were faithful ones who survived, orna- 
ments to the religion of Christ, who remember with 
trembling and holy gratitude those dark and terrible 
days when the death-agonies seemed upon our man- 
gled and bleeding Zion, and how the few that yet 
remained faithful, with sad hearts and bowed heads, 
gathered around their almost forsaken altars, and 



178 EARLY HISTORY OF THE 

Immbling themselves before God with tears and ago- 
nizing prayers, besought the world's Redeemer for 
mercy and for help. 

At the Conference of 1837, in answer to the pray- 
ers of His children for a Joshua to lead them out of 
the wilderness, God sent Eev. Peter E. Borein, of 
blessed memory, whose name never falls on my ear, 
who never rises to my thoughts but a holy influence 
comes, and an impulse toward heaven, whither he 
has gone; and. there comes, too, that last injunction 
which fell from his lips as the waters of Jordan were 
closing over him, ''Be faithful; be faithful unto 
death." He came in the fullness of the Gospel, bur- 
dened with the love of Christ to dying men. He 
gathered his feeble flock around him and breathed 
into them something of his own mighty faith, and 
with them at the feet of the Eedeemer cried for help, 
till salvation was poured as in a mighty torrent upon 
the people. 

During the Winter of 1837-8 quite a number 
were converted, some of whom are still living; but 
compared with the work of the succeeding year the 
revival was quite limited. 

At the Conference of 1838 Borein was returned; 
and owing to the poverty of his charge a missionary 
appropriation was obtained for that year by the pre- 
siding elder, Eev. John Clark. The little church 
building was removed from the north side to Clark- 
street, the site of the present church, and was en- 
larged to twice its size. 



WEST AND NOETH-WEST. 179 

In December a revival commenced, deep, wide- 
spread, and powerful. From this time till April 
brother Borein held meetings every night, and fre- 
quently during the day. Night after night, with 
tireless zeal, he poured forth the arrows of God's 
truth ; he followed the smitten sinner into his home, 
into his shop, and even pursued him to the haunts 
of dissipation; and, with pleadings and entreaties 
that seemed almost resistless, besought him to be 
reconciled to God. The house, from first to last, 
was crowded to its utmost capacity, and the altar 
was thronged with penitent souls. Concern for the 
soul seemed to swallow up every other; more than 
three hundred were converted, most of whom united 
with the Church, comprising about one-tenth of the 
whole population. But the Master had determined 
to call his faithful servant home; he was ripe for 
heaven, he had kept the faith, his course was 
finished, and his crown was ready. 

Those who heard his last sermon will never forget 
it. It was the vision of the dying Stephen: "But 
he being full of the Holy Ghost, looked up stead- 
fastly into heaven, and saw the glory of God, and 
Jesus standing on the right hand of God." As he 
spoke of the beatific sight which burst upon the 
vision of the dying martyr, he seemed himself to 
catch a glimpse of the glories which Stephen saw; 
there seemed a radiance upon his countenance, and 
a prophetic fire burning upon his lips. God, he 
said, "had not seen fit to reveal to us a material 



180 EARLY HISTORY OF THE 

idea of heaven, but every one had some mental con- 
ceptions of it and its inhabitants." He believed 
that in the next, as in this world, there were de- 
grees in Christian attainments, and that in the land 
of glory some would occupy higher positions than 
others; that sometimes his imagination had pic- 
tured heaven as a vast amphitheater, whose seats 
rose tier above tier, up to the very throne itself; 
and when, from the lower seats, the white-robed 
struck the exultant song of redemption, it was 
ca.ught up from rank to rank, growing louder and 
sweeter as it rose, while in unison the angel choir 
struck their lyres, and from every golden harp- 
string of saint, angel, cherubim and seraphim, was 
poured the rapturous, jubilant, adoring song, and 
heaven was filled with an atmosphere of melody. 

Who shall dare to say that God in that hour did 
not permit his soul to catch some strain of that 
heavenly music, in which he was soon to join? A 
day or two after he was laid on his dying bed, his 
work was done, and God took him. None knew 
him but to love him. As an efiective preacher he 
had but few equals. He had that moving, winning 
power, that seized at once the conviction and the 
heart, and made them willing captives; and that 
earnestness, that yearning tenderness was his, that 
made his hearers feel that his heart would break 
under a sense of their danger, if they refused to 
come to Christ and be saved. His hearers felt that 
he was truly an embassador for God, in Christ's 



WEST AND NORTH-WEST. 181 

stead. It is said that he was converted at about 
thirteen years of age, that he did not then know 
his letters; but feeling that he was called of God to 
carry truths to his fellow-man, he commenced to 
acquire that knowledge which he deemed so indis- 
pensable to his great mission. He was two years 
at the Illinois College, at Jacksonville. 

In the September previous to his death he com- 
menced the study of Hebrew, conscious, as he said, 
that there was a depth of meaning and beauty in 
the original, especially in Isaiah and the Psalms, 
which the translation could never convey, and which 
he longed to know and feel; and, notwithstanding 
he held meetings every evening, and many times in 
the day, from December to April, he was able before 
his death to read a chapter in the Hebrew Bible 
with only occasional reference to his lexicon. To- 
day he sings a sweeter, nobler song, in heaven, than 
David ever sang on earth. May it be our unceasing 
efforts, and that of our children, to follow him as he 
followed Christ! 



182 EAELY HISTOEY OF THE 



CHAPTER XX. 

At the Conference in 1839 Eev. S. Stocking was 
appointed to this Church. The dijficulties of follow- 
ing such a man as his predecessor can be well appre- 
ciated. Peace, however, prevailed, and there were 
quite a number of conversions. In 1840-41 Kev. H. 
Crews was stationed here. Prosperity and conver- 
sions attended both years of his administration. The 
house again became too small, and was enlarged to 
nearly double its former capacity. In 1842 Eev. N. 
P. Cunningham was transferred from the Illinois 
Conference and appointed preacher in charge. He, 
too, has since been removed, as we trust, to our 
Father's kingdom on high. • He was an earnest, la- 
borious man, and as a doctrinal preacher had few 
equals. He had some peculiarities not the most 
pleasing, but was sincere and zealous, and did 
much good. 

The house was again becoming too small for the 
increasing congregation, and it was resolved to colo- 
nize in some other part of the city the next year. 
With this view, in 1843, Eev. Luke Hitchcock was 
appointed preacher in charge, and Eev. Abram 
Hanson assistant. The lot on which Canal-Street 
Church stood was purchased, and a church erected. 
During the Winter the health of brother Hitchcock 



WEST AND NORTH-WEST. 183 

failed, and he was compelled to leave his charge. 
The presiding elder, H. Crews, then residing at 
Southport, removed to Chicago, and, with brother 
Hanson, supplied the two congregations. About 
seventy-five members went to Canal -Street, but it 
was determined that the two societies should consti- 
tute but one charge, and the leaders and stewards 
meet in one board. The finances were, however, 
kept separate, each society paying a specific amount, 
and the preachers supplying each Church alternately. 
At the Conference of 1844, under the same ar- 
rangement, Eev. William M. D. Eyan was trans- 
ferred from Ohio and made preacher in charge, and 
Eev. Warren Oliver was appointed assistant. Under 
this arrangement harmony prevailed, and both socie- 
ties were blessed with prosperity. During the fol- 
lowing Winter a very general revival occurred, and 
a large number were added to the Church. Clark- 
Street became crowded beyond the convenient capac- 
ity of the house. It had been enlarged and patched 
up so many times there was almost danger that it 
might fall down. Brother Eyan urged the necessity 
of building a permanent house of worship of suffi- 
cient capacity to accommodate the congregation, and 
infusing something of his own energy into the 
Church, it was resolved to attempt the erection of a 
large building. It was undertaken with much trem- 
bling, and with many forebodings of the result. It 
is due to him to say that few men possessed the en- 
ergy and tact which could have inspired the Church 



184 EAELY HISTORY OF THE 

with the requisite spirit and liberality to carry on 
the enterprise to a successful termination. 

It was proposed to make the seats free, provided 
six thousand dollars could be raised to be paid be- 
fore the completion. About four thousand dollars, 
however, was all that could be obtained. It was 
clear the enterprise must be abandoned, or some 
plan devised to increase the subscriptions. It was 
finally resolved to sell a sufficient number of seats 
to cover the cost of the house, at the appraisal of 
the trustees — all subscriptions paid, to be received 
in payment. Several persons offering to increase 
their subscription, and others who had refused to 
subscribe offering to give liberally under this ar- 
rangement, six thousand dollars were soon raised, 
and the trustees contracted for the erection of the 
building and finishing of all but the basement — 
this amount payable on the completion of the build- 
ing, and the balance in one year. The house was 
ninety-eight feet six inches by sixty-six feet. The 
old church was removed to the lot on the corner of 
Dearborn and Madison streets, and occupied till the 
erection of the new building. 

In November, 1845, the house was dedicated. 
From the amount raised at the dedication, the sale 
of the seats, and other means, the trustees were 
able to meet present demands on the contract, and 
the Church felt greatly relieved. Had it not been 
the first large house of worship built in the city, 
and one of the most prosperous business years, it is 



WEST AND NORTH-WEST. 185 

feared that the society would have been crushed in 
the undertaking. But a gracious Providence favored 
us on every hand. A necessity for the basement 
and class-rooms was now felt; and although all had 
given so liberally, yet they had been so blessed in 
what they had done, that almost with one accord 
they declared their willingness to give more. In 
one evening the funds necessary to finish the base- 
ment were raised ; and though it was Winter the 
work was pushed rapidly to completion. The first 
Sabbath after the house was completed was a day 
of great rejoicing; when with gratitude and praise 
they lifted up their hearts to God for the goodly 
heritage he had given them. There was in their 
case a literal fulfillment of the declaration of Holy 
Writ, " There is that scattereth, and yet increaseth." 
When the debt was paid, it is believed that all were 
pecuniarily richer than when it was contracted. 
Providence seemed to have been well pleased with 
his stewards, and richly verified his promises in 
them. The whole cost was about twelve thousand 
dollars, and it was all paid as it became due. Dur- 
ing the Winter God also blessed his children by the 
conversion of a number of souls, and addina; them 
to his Church. 

In 1845 Canal-Street Church was separated from 
us, and Eev. Silas Bolles appointed to it; brother 
Eyan was returned to Clark-Street. At the Con- 
ference of 1846 Eev. Chauncey Hobart was trans- 
ferred from the Illinois Conference, and stationed at 

16 



186 EARLY HISTOEY OF THE 

Clark-Street, and Silas Bolles reappointed to Canal- 
Street. Among the events of this and the succeed- 
ing year was a most unhappy controversy with Eev. 
James Mitchell, the presiding elder, which shook 
the Church nearly to disruption. Circumstances 
transpired which satisfied the great majority of 
Clark-Street Church, that the well-being of Zion 
forbade the return of elder Mitchell to this district. 
At the session of the Conference of 1847 a repre- 
sentation of this matter was made to the Bishop by 
nearly all of the official board. Some of the breth- 
ren in Clark-Street Church, and also in Canal-Street 
as well as at other points on the district, were of a 
different opinion. Such action was taken by elder 
Mitchell in Conference as forced those opposed to 
his return to prefer charges against him, instead of 
leaving the matter in the hands of the Bishop. A 
part of the charges only were disposed of by the 
Conference. Elder Mitchell was not returned to the 
district, but was ordered to be reproved in open 
Conference by the Bishop, and allowed a superan- 
nuated relation. The charges undisposed of were 
determined at the Conference in 1848, and the 
occasion of the trouble went out from among us. 

Previous to the Conference of 1847 a number of 
members determined to form another Church on the 
north side of the river. They purchased two lots 
on Indiana-street, built a neat chapel, and solicited 
a preacher at the ensuing Conference. At the Con- 
ference of 1847 Rev. Philip Jackson was sent to 



WEST AND NORTH-WEST. 187 

the Clark-Street Cliurcli. His prudence and steady 
firmness did much to preserve the integrity of 
the Church. Eev. 0. Bronson was stationed at 
Canal-Street ; but his health failed before the end of 
the year, and he was forced to retire from his work. 
Bev. Freeborn Haney was appointed to Indiana- 
Street. This year a Church on Indiana-street was- 
commenced for the German brethren, which is still 
in a flourishing condition. In 1848 Rev. Bichard 
Haney was sent to Clark-Street, Eev. E. A. Blanch- 
ard was sent to Canal- Street, and Eev. John F. 
Devore to Indiana-Street. 

In 1849 the two former were reappointed to Clark 
and Canal Streets, and Eev. Zadok Hall to Indiana- 
Street. During this year earnest prayer was made 
to the Most High that he would water his thirsty 
Zion. In answer, his children were revived, and a 
goodly number were converted. Other Churches 
shared also in the reviving influence. At the Con- 
ference of 1850 Eev. S. P. Keys was sent to Clark- 
Street, Eev. W. Palmer to Canal-Street, and Eev. 
Boyd Low to Indiana-Street. During this year, 
through the liberality of brother Orrington Lunt, 
an opportunity was offered of obtaining a lot on the 
corner of State and Harrison streets for another 
church. A Sunday School Union was also formed 
among various Churches, for the establishment of 
Sunday schools and the extension of church-building, 
Under whose supervision a small chapel was built 
on Clinton-street for Sunday school and preaching 



188 EARLY HISTORY OF THE 

purposes, and wliere preaching was liad every Sab- 
bath by some of the local preachers. A building 
formerly occupied by the Presbyterians was pur- 
chased and moved on to the State-street lot, fitted 
up in a neat and convenient manner, and a Sunday 
school organized. . 

In 1851 Eev. N. P. Heath was sent as a mission- 
ary to occupy it and organize a society. He entered 
with great zeal upon his work, and a number of 
members united there, and a Church was organized 
under the most flattering prospects. At the same 
Conference brother Keys was returned to Clark- 
Street, Palmer to Canal-Street, and Eev. J. W. 
Agard to Indiana- Street. In January, 1852, brother 
Palmer took his departure to the spirit-world. He 
was a devoted minister, and had been blessed with 
great success in winning souls to Christ. Rev. J. E. 
Wilson was appointed by the presiding elder to take 
charge of the Canal-Street Church the remainder of 
the year. During this Winter a revival occurred. 
Since the great revival of 1838-9 there had been 
none which gave so fair promise of permanent good. 
Its subjects were mostly young men and women, the 
children of pious parents, who had been trained and 
nurtured in the lap of the Church. It is to be 
hoped that these and such as these will fill the 
places that we shall soon leave vacant. God help 
them to act well their part. 

At the General Conference a book depository 
and the North-Western Christian Advocate were 



WEST AND NORTH-WEST. 189 

authorized to be established in the city. The Depos- 
itory has been for several years in successful opera- 
tion, and will no doubt be the means of a general 
diffusion of our Church literature throughout the 
West. The Advocate was placed under the charge 
of Eev. J. V. Watson, who proved himself an able 
and accomplished editor for a number of years. The 
necessity for such a paper had long been felt, and 
the placing of brother Watson at its head insured 
the interest of a large circle of devoted and loving 
friends to the cause. He was one of the great lights 
of the Church; but he has long since gone to his 
rest, and we can not forbear paying that tribute to 
his memory which he so richly deserved. 

At our last Conference in 1852 Rev. John Clark 
was transferred from the Troy Conference and ap- 
pointed to Clark-Street. He was presiding elder on 
the same district from October, 1836, to October, 
1840; and in 1841 was transferred to Texas, and in 
1844 from Texas to Troy Conference. N. P. Heath 
was returned to State-Street ; J. E. Wilson to Canal- 
Street, with William Kegan as his assistant, with 
which Church the Owen-Street charge was con- 
nected. Silas BoUes was appointed to Indiana- 
Street, and Philip Earth to the Indiana-Street 
German Church. Another German Church was 
organized on the south side of the river, and Rev. 
Augustus Kellner appointed preacher m charge. He 
procured a lot on the corner of Van Buren and 
Griswold streets, where another church was built. 



190 EAELY HISTORY OF THE i| 

Great efforts were made to secure lots and estab- 
lish Churches in other localities, which by the energy 
and liberality of the various members of already 
formed Churches, have since been rendered success- 
ful. A plan was formed and put into execution for 
bringing into efficient action the talents of local 
preachers. A circuit was formed, embracing Cross 
Point, Clinton- Street Chapel, Hamilton's School - 
House, the Car Factory School-House, Jackson's 
Eidge, and Cleaverville, where preaching was ex- 
pected at least once on every Sabbath. 



n 



WEST AND NORTH-WEST. 191 



CHAPTER XXI. 

In the evening of the 7th of April, 1812, the 
children of Mr. Kinzie were dancing before the fire 
to the music of their father's violin. The tea-table 
was spread, and they were awaiting the return of 
their mother, who had gone to visit a sick neighbor. 
Suddenly the door was thrown open, and Mrs. Kinzie 
rushed in, pale with terror, and scarcely able to 
articulate. * It was with difficulty that she composed 
herself sufficiently to give the necessary information 
that the Indians were up at Lee's place, killing and 
scalping all before them, and that while she was at 
Burns's a man and boy were seen running on the 
opposite side of the river with all speed, and called 
across to give notice to Burns's people to save them- 
selves, for the Indians were already at Lee's place, 
from which they had escaped. Having given this 
terrible news, they had made all possible speed for 
the fort, which was on the same side of the river. 

All was now consternation and dismay. The fam- 
ily were hurried into two old pirogues that were 
moored near the house, and hastened across the 
river, to take refuge in the fort. The man and boy, 
on arriving at the fort, were scarce able to give a 
coherent account of the scene of action; but in 



192 EARLY HISTORY OF THE 

order to render their story more intelligible, we will 
describe Lee's place, since known by the name of 
Hardscrabble. It was a farm intersected by the 
Chicago River, about four miles from its mouth. 
The l\irm-house stood on the western bank of the 
south branch of this river. On the same side of 
the main stream, but quite near its junction with 
Lake Michigan, stood the dwelling-house and trad- 
ing establishment of Mr. Kinzie. 

The fort was situated on the southern bank, di- 
rectly opposite. This fort was differently constructed 
from the one erected on the same site in 181G. It 
had two block-houses on the southern side, and on 
the northern a sally-port, or a subterranean passage 
from the parade-ground to the river. This was de- 
signed as a means of escape in case of danger, or that 
the garrison might be supplied with water during a 
siege. The officers were Capt. Heald, Lieut. H., the 
son-in-law of Mr. Kinzie, and Ensign Konan — the 
two last very young men — the Surgeon, Dr. Van 
Voorhies, and seventy-five men, very few of whom 
were effective. 

In the Spring preceding the destruction of the 
fort, two Indians of the Calumet band came to the 
fort on a visit to the commanding officer. As they 
passed through the quarters, they saw Mrs. Heald 
and another lady, wives of the officers, playing at bat- 
tledore. Turning to the interpreter, one of them, 
Nanmongco, said: "The white chiefs' wives are 
amusing themselves very much; it will not be long 



WEST AND NORTH-WEST. 193 

before they arc hoeing in our cornfields." This 
was considered, at the time, an idle threat — a mere 
ebullition of jealous feeling at the contrast between 
the situation of their own women and those of the 
white people. 

Some months afterward how bitterly was this 
remembered I 

In the afternoon of the day on which this narra- 
tive commences, a party of ten or twelve Indians, 
dressed and painted, arrived at the house, and, ac- 
cording to the custom among savages, entered and 
seated themselves without ceremony. Something in 
their appearance and manner excited the suspicion 
of one of the family, a Frenchman, who remarked: 
*'I do not like their appearance; they are none of 
our folks; I know by their dress and paint, they are 
not Pottawotamies." Another of the family, a dis- 
charged soldier, then said to the boy who was pres- 
ent : "If that is the case, we had better get away 
from here if we can. Say nothing, but do as you 
see me do." The soldier then walked leisurely 
toward the canoes, which were tied near the bank. 

An Indian asked where he was going. He 
[)ointed to the cattle and some stacks of hay which 
were standing on the opposite side of the stream, 
and made signs that he must go and fodder the cat- 
tle, and afterward they would return and get their 
supper. He got into one canoe and the boy into the 
other, and they were soon across. Tliey pulled some 

hay for the cattle, and made a show of collecting 

17 



19f4 EARLY HISTORY OF THE 

the cattle by a gradual circuit, till their movements 
were concealed by the hay-stacks, and then ran for 
the woods, which were close at hand. They had 
run only about a quarter of a mile, when they heard 
the discharge of two guns, which they supposed had 
been leveled at those they had left behind. They 
hastened on with all speed till they arrived opposite 
the house of Mr. Burns, where, as before stated, 
they called across the stream to warn the family of 
their danger. "When these two arrived at the fort 
some of the soldiers were absent, having had leave 
that afternoon to go out on a fishing excursion. The 
commanding officer immediately ordered a cannon to 
be fired, that they might be warned of their danger. 
The soldiers were at this time two miles above Lee's 
place. Hearing the signal, they immediately put 
out their torches, for it was now dark, and dropped 
down the river toward the garrison as silently as 
possible. As they passed Lee's place it was proposed 
that they should go in and tell the family that the 
signal from the fort meant danger. Every thing 
was still as death ; they groped their way along, and 
as one of them jumped into the small inclosure that 
surrounded the house he placed his hand on the dead 
body of a man. By passing his hand over the head 
he ascertained that it had been scalped. 

They then hastened back to their canoes, and 
reached the fort unmolested. The next morning it 
was proposed at the fort that a body of men, soldiers 
and citizens, should go to Lee's place to learn the 



WEST AND NORTH-WEST. 195 

fate of its occupants. The two men were found dead 
and much mutilated, with their faithful dogs beside 
them. Their bodies were brought to the fort and 
buried. The inmates at the fort received no further 
alarm for several weeks. 

It was on the afternoon of the 7th of August 
that a Pottawotamie chief arrived at the fort, bring- 
ing dispatches from General Hull, announcing the 
declaration of war between the United States and 
Great Britain, that General Hull was at the head 
of our army at Detroit, and that the island of Mack- 
inaw had fallen into the hands of the British. Cap- 
tain Heald was ordered to evacuate the fort, if 
practicable, and in that event to distribute all the 
United States property in and around the fort 
among the Indians in the immediate neighborhood. 

After the Indian had done his errand, he re- 
quested a private interview with Mr. Kinzie, who 
had taken up his residence at the fort. The Indian 
wished him to ascertain if it was Captain Heald's 
purpose to leave the fort, and strongly advised 
against any such measure, proposing that they re- 
main till a reenforcement would be sent to their as- 
sistance; and at the same time, should they conclude 
to go, advising the best route and offering what 
help he could. Mr. Kinzie immediately acquainted 
Capt. Heald with the Indian's friendly communica- 
tion, also throwing in the weight of his own advice 
to remain at the fort, inasmuch as they were sup- 
plied with provisions and ammunition for six months. 



196 EARLY HISTOEY OF THE 

Capt. Heald replied that he should obey orders and 
evacuate the fort; but since he must divide the 
United States property, he should remain there till 
he had called the Indians together and made an equi- 
table division among them. The Indian chief then 
suggested the expediency of marching out and leav- 
ing all things standing as they were; and that 
possibly while the Indians were engaged in the divid- 
ing of the spoils, the troops might effect their retreat 
unmolested. This advice was strongly seconded by 
Mr. Kinzie, but did not meet the approbation of the 
commanding officer. 

However, as it was highly improbable that the 
command would be permitted to pass through the 
country in safety to Fort Wayne; and their march 
must be slow to accommodate the helplessness of the 
women and children — some of the soldiers being 
superannuated and others invalid; and since the 
order was left discretionary, it was the unanimous 
advice to remain where they were, and fortify them- 
selves as best they could. It was further argued that 
aid might arrive from the other side of the peninsula 
before they could be attacked by the British from 
Mackinaw ; and even should it not come, it was bet- 
ter to fall into their hands than to become victims 
to the savages. Capt. Heald replied that a special 
order had been issued by the War Department that 
no post should be surrendered without battle hav- 
ing been given ; that his force was totally inadequate 
to an engagement, and that he should unquestionably 



WEST AND NOETH-WEST. 197 

be censured for remaining, when there appeared 
a prospect of a safe march through ; upon the whole, 
he deemed it expedient to assemble the Indians, dis- 
tribute the property among them, and ask them 
for an escort to Fort Wayne, with a promise of a 
considerable reward upon their safe arrival — adding 
that he had full confidence in the friendly professions 
of the Indians. 

From this time, the other officers held themselves 
aloof, and spoke but little upon the subject, al- 
though they considered the project of Capt. Heald 
as little, short of madness. This dissatisfaction 
among the soldiers hourly increased, till it reached 
a high pitch of insubordination. The Indians now 
became daily more unruly, entering the fort in 
defiance of the sentinels ; making their way with- 
out ceremony into the officers' quarters; showing 
in many ways open defiance. 

Thus passed the time till the 12th of August, on 
the afternoon of which day, the Indians having as- 
sembled from the neighboring villages, a council 
was held. Capt. Heald only attended; his officers 
declining his request for them to accompany him, as 
they had been secretly informed that it was the in- 
tention of the young chiefs to fall upon the officers 
and kill them while in council. Capt. Heald could 
not be persuaded that this was true. The officers 
only waited till he in company with Mr. Kinzie had 
left the garrison, and then they took command of 
the block-house which overlooked the esplanade on 



198 EARLY HISTORY OF THE 

whicli the council was held. They opened the port- 
holes, and pointed the cannon so as to command the 
whole assembly. By this means the lives of the 
whites in council were probably preserved. 

In council Capt. Heald told the Indians that the 
goods at the factory, and also the provisions and am- 
munition, were to be distributed among them the 
next day. He then requested an escort of the Pot- 
tawotamies to Fort Wayne, offering them liberal re- 
wards when they arrived there, and making many 
professions of kindness and good-will toward them. 
The savages promised all he required; but Mr. Kin- 
zie, who understood their character well, still ad- 
vised the Captain to remain, and used every effort 
to open his eyes to the bad state of feeling that 
really existed among the Indians. 

He reminded him that since the troubles with the 
Indians on the Wabash, there had been a settled 
purpose of hostilities toward the whites, in conse- 
quence of which it had been the policy of Americans 
to withhold all fire-arms and ammunition, or what- 
ever would enable them to carry on their warfare 
upon the defenseless inhabitants on the frontier. 
Capt. Heald now seemed to consider that he was 
furnishing the enemy with arms against himself, and 
determined to destroy all the ammunition except 
what should be necessary for the use of his own 
troops. The Indians suspected what was going on, 
and crept stealthily as near the scene of action as 
possible; but a vigilant watch was kept up, and no 



WEST AND NORTH-WEST. 199 

one was suffered to approach except those who were 
engaged in the affair. On the 14th of August some 
relief to the general despondency was afforded by the 
arrival of Captain Wells with fifteen friendly Miamis. 
He had at Fort Wayne heard of the order for evac- 
uating the fort at Chicago, and knowing the hostile 
determination of the Pottawotamies, had made a 
rapid march across the country to prevent the ex- 
posure of his relative, Captain Heald, and his troops 
to certain destruction. But he came too late. When 
he reached the post he found that the ammunition 
had been destroyed and the provisions given to the 
Indians. Captain Wells, when a boy, was stolen by 
the Indians from the family of Hon. Nathaniel Pope, 
in Kentucky. Although recovered by them some 
time after, he preferred to return and live among 
the Indians. He married a Miami woman, and be- 
came chief of that nation. He was the father of 
the late Mrs. Judge Wolcott, Maumee, Ohio. 



200 EARLY HISTORY OF THE 



CHAPTER XXII. 

Every preparation was made for the march of 
the troops on the following morning, but, notwith- 
standing the precautions that had been taken to 
preserve secrecy, the noise made in knocking in the 
heads of the barrels had betrayed their operations. 
So great was the quantity of liquor thrown into the 
river that the taste of the water next morning was, 
as one expressed it, like strong grog. Among the 
chiefs, although they shared in the general hostile 
feelings of the tribe toward Americans, there re- 
mained a strong personal regard for the troops at 
this fort and a few white citizens of the place. 
These chiefs used their utmost influence to allay 
the revengeful feelings of the young men, and to 
avert their bloody designs, but without effect. 

On the evening after the council Black Partridge, 
a conspicuous chief, entered the quarters of the 
commanding officer. '' Father," said he, ''I come 
to deliver up to you the medal I wear. It was 
given me by your people. I have long worn it as a 
token of our mutual friendship, but our young men 
are resolved to imbrue their hands in the blood of 
the whites. I can not restrain them, and I will not 
wear a token of peace while I am compelled to act 
as an enemy." Had further evidence been wanting, 



WEST AND NORTH-WEST. 201 

til is would have been sufficient to have warranted 
the most dismal forebodings. There were not want- 
ing, however, a few gallant hearts who strove to 
encourage the desponding company. There had been 
reserved but twenty-five rounds of ammunition and 
one box of cartridges, which must, under any cir- 
cumstances of danger, have proved insufficient; but 
the prospect of a fatiguing march forbade the troops 
embarrassing themselves with a larger quantity. 

The morning of the 14th all things were in readi- 
ness. Nine o'clock was the hour fixed upon for start- 
ing. Mr. Kinzie had volunteered to accompany the 
troops in their march, and had intrusted his family 
to the care of some friendly Indians, who had prom- 
ised to convey them in a boat around the head of 
Lake Michigan to a point in St. Joseph's Kiver, there 
to be joined by the troops, should the prosecution of 
their march be permitted. Early in the morning, 
Mr. Kinzie had received a message from To-pee-mee- 
bee, a chief of the St. Joseph's band, informing him 
that mischief was intended by the Pottawotamies, 
who had engaged to escort the detachment, urging 
him to relinquish his design of accompanying the 
troops by land, and also promising him that the boat 
containing himself and family should be permitted to 
pass in safety to St. Joseph. Mr. Kinzie declined, 
as he believed his presence might act as a restraint 
upon the fury of the savages, so warmly were they 
attached to him and his family. The party in the 
boat consisted of Mrs. Kinzie and her four younger 



202 EAELY HISTORY OF THE 

children, the nurse, a clerk of Mr. Kinzie's, two 
servants, and the boatmen, besides two Indians who 
acted as their protectors. The boat started, but 
scarce had they reached the mouth of the river, a 
half mile below the fort, when another messenger ar- 
rived from To-pee-mee-bee to detain them where they 
were. In breathless expectation sat the wife and 
mother. She was a woman of uncommon energy and 
strength of character, yet her heart died within her 
as she folded her arms around her helpless infants, 
and gazed upon the march of her husband and child 
to certain death. 

As the troops left the fort, the band struck up the 
dead march. On they came in military style, but 
with solemn mien. Capt. Wells took the lead at the 
head of his little band of Miamis. He had black- 
ened his face before leaving the garrison, in token of 
his impending fate. They took the road along the 
Lake shore,, and when they reached the point where 
commences the range of sand hills intervening be- 
tween the prairie and the beach, the escort of the 
Pottawotamies, a number of about five hundred, kept 
the level of the prairie instead of continuing along 
the beach with the troops and Miamis. The troops 
had marched perhaps a mile and a half, when Capt. 
Wells, who had kept somewhat in advance with his 
band, came riding furiously back, shouting: ''They 
are about to attack us; form instantly and charge 
upon them!" Scarcely were the words uttered, when 
a volley was showered from among the sand hills. 



WEST AND NORTH-WEST. 203 

The troops were hastily brought into line, and 
charged up the bank. One man, a veteran of sev- 
enty Winters, fell as they ascended. 

The remainder of the scene is best described by 
an eye-witness, and a participator in the tragedy — 
the wife of Lieut. Helm. She says : " After we had 
left the bank, the firing became general ; the Miamis 
fled at the outset. Their chief rode up to the Pot- 
tawotamies, and said, * You have deceived the troops 
and us; you have done a bad action;' and, brand- 
ishing his tomahawk, continued, 'I will be the first 
to return and punish your treachery.' He then gal- 
loped after his companions, who were now scouring 
across the prairie. The troops behaved most gal- 
lantly. They were but a handful ; but they resolved 
to sell their lives most dearly. Our horses pranced 
and bounded, and could hardly be restrained as the 
balls whistled among them. I drew off a little and 
gazed upon my husband and father, who were yet 
unharmed. I felt that my hour had come, and en- 
deavored to forget those I loved, and prepared my- 
self for my approaching fate. 

*' While I was thus engaged, the surgeon, Dr. Van 
Voorhees, came up. His horse had been shot under 
him, and he had received a ball in his leg. Every 
muscle of his face was quivering with the agony of 
terror. He said to me, 'Do you think they will 
take our lives? I am badly wounded, but not mor- 
tally; perhaps we might purchase our lives by 
promising them a large reward. Do you think 



204 EARLY HISTORY OF THE 

there is any chance?' 'Dr. Van Voorhees/ said I, 
' do not let us waste the moments that yet remain 
to us in such vain hopes. Our fate is inevitable; 
in a few moments we must appear before the bar of 
God. Let us make what preparations are in our 
power.' * 0, I can not die/ exclaimed he, * I am not 
fit to die. If I had only a short time to prepare! 
Death is awful!* I pointed to Ensign Konan, who, 
though mortally wounded and nearly down, was 
still fighting with desperation on one knee. 'Look 
at that man,' said I ; ' at least he dies like a soldier.' 
'Yes,' replied the unfortunate man, with a convul- 
sive gasp; 'but he has no terrors of the future. 
He does not believe there is one.' At this moment 
a young Indian raised his tomahawk at me; by 
springing aside I avoided the blow, which was in- 
tended for my skull, but which alighted on my 
shoulder. I seized him around the neck ; and, while 
exerting my utmost efforts to get possession of his 
scalping-knife, which hung in a scabbard over his 
breast, I was dragged from his grasp by another 
and an older Indian. The latter bore me strug- 
gling and resisting toward the lake. 

" Notwithstanding the rapidity with wbich I was 
hurried along, I recognized as I passed the lifeless 
remains of the surgeon. Some murderous toma- 
hawk had stretched him upon the very spot where I 
had last seen him. I was immediately plunged into 
the water and held there. As I resisted, however, 
I soon perceived that the object of my captor was 



WEST AND NORTH-WEST. 205 

not to drown me, for he held me firmly in sucli a 
position as to keep my head above the water. This 
reassured me; and, looking at him closely, I soon 
recognized, in spite of the paint by which he was 
disguised, the Black Partridge. When the firing 
had nearly subsided, my preserver took me from the 
water, and led me up the sand- bank. It was a 
burning August morning, and walking through the 
sand, in my drenched condition, was inexpressibly 
painful and fatiguing. I stooped and took ofi" my 
shoes to clear them from the sand, when a squaw 
seized and carried them ofi". I was placed upon a 
horse without any saddle; but finding the motion 
unendurable, I sprang ofi*. 

''Partly supported by my kind conductor. Black 
Partridge, and partly by another Indian, who held 
dangling in his hand a scalp which I recognized as 
that of Captain Wells, I dragged my panting steps 
to one of the wigwams. The wife of Waw-bee-mee- 
mah was standing near, and seeing my fainting con- 
dition, she seized a kettle, dipped up some water 
from a stream that flowed near, threw in some 
maple sugar, and stirring it with her hand, gave me 
to drink. This act of kindness, in the midst of so 
many horrors, touched me most sensibly; but my 
attention was soon diverted to other objects. This 
work of butchery had commenced just as we were 
leaving the fort. I can not describe the horrible 
scene which ensued as the wounded and dying were 
dragged into camp. An old squaw, infuriated by 



206 EARLY HISTORY OF THE 

the loss of friends, or excited by the bloody scenes 
around her, seemed possessed with a demoniac fury. 
She seized a stable fork, and assaulted one miserable 
victim who lay groaning and writhing in the agony 
of his wounds. 

*' With a delicacy of feeling scarcely to be expected, 
Waw-bee-mee-mah stretched a mat across two poles 
between me and this dreadful scene, although I 
could still hear the groans of the sufferers. On the 
following night five more wounded prisoners were 
tomahawked. Those of the troops who had escaped 
surrendered, after a loss of about two-thirds of the 
party. They had stipulated, by means of an inter- 
preter, for the lives of those remaining and those 
who remained of the women and children, but the 
wounded were not included. They were to be deliv- 
ered at some of the British ports, unless ransomed 
by traders. The Americans, after their first attack, 
charged upon those who were concealed in a sort of 
ravine intervening between the sand-banks and the 
prairie. The Indians gathered themselves into a 
body, and after some hard fighting, in which the 
number of whites had been reduced to twenty-eight, 
this small band succeeded in breaking through the 
enemy and gaining a rising ground not far from the 
oak woods." 

The contest now seemed hopeless, and Lieutenant 
Helm sent Perest Leclerc, a half-breed boy in the 
service of Mr. Kinzie, who had accompanied the 
detachment and fought manfully, as interpreter, to 



WEST AND NORTH-WEST. 207 

propose terms of capitulation. It was stipulated 
that the lives of all the survivors should be spared, 
and a ransom permitted as soon as practicable. But 
in the mean time a horrible scene had been enacted, 
A young savage had climbed into the baggage- 
wagon containing the children of the whites, twelve 
in number, and tomahawked the entire group. 
When Captain Wells saw this he exclaimed, "Is 
that their game? Then I will kill, too." So say- 
ing, he titrned his horse's head and started for the 
Indian camp. Several Indians pursued him, and as 
he galloped along he laid himself flat on his horse 
to escape their shots. They took effect, however, at 
last, killing his horse and severely wounding him. 
At that moment he was met by a friendly Indian, 
who tried to save him from the savages, who had 
now overtaken him. As he was being supported by 
his friend, he received his death-blow from a savage 
who stabbed him in the back. Those of the family 
of Mr. Kinzie who had remained in the boat near 
the mouth of the river were carefully guarded by 
the Indians. They had seen the smoke and the 
blaze, and immediately after the report of the first 
tremendous discharge. 

Some time afterward they saw an Indian coming 
toward them, leading a horse on which sat Mrs. 
Heald. ''Run," cried Mrs. Kinzie; "that Indian 
will kill her. Eun ; take the mule, which is tied to 
a tree, and offer it to her captor as a ransom for her 
life." The Indian was by this time in the act of 



208 EARLY HISTORY OF THE 

removing ner bonnet, that he might scalp her. The 
servant ran up with the mule, and by that, and the 
offer of ten bottles of whisky, effected her release. 
''But," said the Indian, ''she is wounded; she will 
die; will you then give me the whisky." It was 
promised him. The savage then took Mrs. Heald's 
bonnet, placing it on his own head, and, after an in- 
effectual attempt on the part of some squaws to rob 
her of her stockings, she was brought on board the 
boat, suffering great agony from the many bullet- 
wounds she had received. The boat was at length 
permitted to return to Mr. Kinzie's home, where 
Mrs. Heald was properly cared for. Mr. Kinzie 
soon after returned. The family were closely guarded 
by their Indian friends, whose intention it was to 
carry them to Detroit for security. The rest of the 
prisoners remained at the wigwams of their captors. 
The next morning, after plundering the fort, the 
Indians set fire to it. Black Partridge, with several 
others of his tribe, established themselves in the 
porch of the building as sentinels, to protect the 
family. Soon after the fire a party of Wabash In- 
dians made their appearance. They were the most 
hostile of all the tribes of the Pottawotamies. Be- 
ing more remote, they had shared less in the kind- 
ness of Mr. Kinzie and his family. On arriving at 
Chicago they had blackened their faces, and they 
now proceeded toward the dwelling of Mr. Kinzie. 
From his station on the piazza Black Partridge had 
watched their approach. His fears were for the 



WEST AND NORTH-WEST. 209 

safety of Mrs. Helm, Mr* Kinzie's step-daughter. 
By his advice she was made to assume the dress of 
a French woman of the country; namely, a short 
gown and petticoat, with a blue cotton handkerchief 
wrapped around her head. In this disguise she was 
conducted by Black Partridge to the house of Ouil- 
mette, a Frenchman, with a half-breed wife, who 
formed a part of the establishment of Mr. Kinzie, 
and whose house was close at hand. It happened 
that the Indians came first to this house in their 
search for prisoners. 

As they approached, the inmates, fearful that the 
fair complexion of Mrs. Helm might betray her, 
raised a large feather-bed, and placed her under the 
edge of it upon the bedstead, with her face to the 
wall. Mrs. Bisson, the sister of Ouilmette's wife, 
then seated herself with her sewing on the foreside 
of the bed. It was a hot day in August, and the 
feverish excitement of fear, together with her posi- 
tion and wounds, became so intolerable that Mrs. 
Helm begged to be released and given up to the 
Indians. '' I can but die," said she; '^ let them put an 
end to my misery at once." Mrs. Bisson replied, 
*' Your death would be the destruction of us all. 
Black Partridge has resolved that if one drop of the 
blood of your family is spilled, he will take the lives 
of all concerned in it, even his nearest friends; and 
if the work of slaughter once commences, there will 
be no end to it, so long as there remains one white 

person or half-breed in the country." This nerved 

18 



210 EAELY HISTORY OF THE 

Mrs. Helm witli fresh resolution. The Indians en- 
tered, and she could occasionally see them from her 
hiding-place gliding about and inspecting every part 
of the house, till, apparently satisfied that there was 
no one concealed, they left. 

All this time Mrs. Bisson had kept her seat on 
the side of the bed, calmly sorting and arranging 
the patchwork of a quilt, and preserving the ap- 
pearance of the utmost tranquillity, although she 
knew not but at any moment the tomahawk might 
aim a fatal blow at herself. Her self-command un- 
questionably saved the lives of all present. From 
Ouilmette's the party of Indians proceeded to Mr. 
Kinzie's. They entered the parlor, in which the 
family were assembled with their faithful protector, 
and seated themselves in silence. Black Partridge 
perceived from their moody and revengeful looks 
what was passing in their minds; but he dared not 
remonstrate with them, but observed in a low tone 
to one of the friendly Indians, "We have endeav- 
ored to save your friends, but it is in vain ; nothing 
will save them now." 

At this moment a friendly whoop was heard from 
a party of new-comers on the opposite side of the 
river. Black Partridge sprang to meet them as their 
canoes touched the bank near the house. " Who are 
you?" demanded he. "A man." ''Who are you?" 
"A man like yourself." ''But tell me who you 
are?" — meaning, tell me your disposition, and which 
side you are for. "I am the San-ga-nash," replied 



WEST AND NOETH-WEST. 211 

the stranger. ''Then make all possible speed into 
the house; your friend is in danger, and you alone 
can save him." Billy Caldwell — for it was he — a 
man well known to the tribes for his never-failing 
help to them in their need — then entered the parlor 
with a calm step, and without a trace of agitation in 
his manner. He deliberately took off his accouter- 
ments, placed them with his rifle behind the door, 
and then saluted the hostile savages: ''How now, 
my friends? a good day to you. I was told there 
were enemies here; but I am glad' to find only 
friends. Why have you blackened your faces? Is 
it that you are mourning your friends lost in bat- 
tle?" purposely misunderstanding this token of evil 
design, "or is it that you are fasting? If so, ask 
our friend here, and he will give you to eat; he 
is the Indians' friend, and never yet refused what 
they had need of." 

Thus taken by surprise, the savages were ashamed 
to acknowledge their bloody purpose. They there- 
fore said, modestly, that they came to beg white 
cotton of their friends, in which to wrap their dead. 
This was given them with some other presents, and 
they took their departure peaceably. On the third 
day after the battle, the family of Mr. Kinzie, with 
the clerks of the establishment, were put into a boat 
under the care of a half-breed interpreter, and con- 
veyed to St. Joseph's, where they remained till the 
following November under the protection of To-pee- 
mee-bee's band. They were then conducted to De- 



212 EAELY HISTORY OF THE 

troit, under the escort of two of their trusty Indian 
friends, and delivered up as prisoners of war to Col. 
M'Kee, the British Indian Agent. 



WEST AND NOETH-WEST. 213 



CHAPTER XXIII. 

Whenever the Indian came among us, my ideas 
of what should be due unto woman, and my sense 
of the elevation to which Christianity assigns her, 
was often' greatly shocked by the inhuman manner 
in which the Indian treats his squaw. She is little 
better than a beast of burden. It is no uncommon 
sight to see the woman laden with mats and the 
poles, with which the lodge is built, upon her shoul- 
ders ; her papoose, if she has any ; her kettles, sacks 
of corn, wild rice; and not unfrequently the house- 
hold dog perched upon the top of all. If there is a 
horse or pony among the list of domestic possessions, 
the man rides, while the squaw trudges along with 
her heavy burdens on foot. It is the instinct of 
the sex to keep up the idea of their supposed su 
periority, by asserting it on every and even the 
slightest occasion. But, for the sake of humanity, 
we must say of the Indian, that whenever he is out 
of sight of others, and there is no danger of com- 
promising his own dignity, the husband is willing 
enough to relieve his wife of some of the heavy 
burdens which custom imposes on her, by sharing 
her labors and hardships. 

I think the picture is not altogether an unknown 



214 EARLY HISTORY OF THE 

one, in some domestic arrangements of civilized life. 
Even in their dances, the squaws, who stand a little 
apart and mingle their discordant voices with the 
music of the instruments, rarely participate in the 
dance. Occasionally, however, when excited by the 
general gayety, a few of them will form a circle out- 
side, and perform a sort of ungraceful up-and-down 
movement, which has no merit save the perfect time 
that is kept, and for which the Indians without ex- 
ception seem to possess a natural gift. The rhythm 
of nature to which their ears are constantly inclined, 
has the effect of introducing at least one element of 
order in these barbaric souls. 0, how much civili- 
zation owes to the influence of the Bible! how it 
has exalted man, and woman along with him ! What 
heart can ever express becoming gratitude to God 
for his inestimable gift of the Bible ! In the Chris- 
tian rites, in the soul's salvation, woman is raised to 
a level with man ; and in and through these has 
she now her exalted position over that of her sisters 
of the primeval forest. 

I have frequently been asked the cause of the 
Sauk war, and have been able to answer only from 
the impressions I received and my own observations, 
or information furnished at that time. I think it 
but justice to Black Hawk and his party to insert 
the following account, preserved among the manu- 
scripts of the late Thomas Forsythe, Esq., of St. 
Louis, who, after residing among the Indians many 
years as a trader, was, till the year 1830, the agent 



WEST AND NOETH-WEST. 215 

of the Sauks and Foxes. The manuscript was writ- 
ten in 1832, while Black Hawk and his compatriots 
were in prison at Jefferson Barracks. It is an ex- 
tract from the "Life of Mrs. J. H. Kinzie:" 

''The United States troops arrived at St. Louis 
and took possession of this country in the month 
of February, 1804. In the Spring of that year 
a white person was murdered in one of the settle- 
ments by a Sauk Indian. Some time in the Summer 
following the State troops were sent up to the Sauk 
village, on Kock Kiver, and a demand was made of 
the Sauk chief for the murderer. The chief deliv- 
ered him up without hesitation to the commander 
of the troops, who brought him down and handed 
him over to the civil authorities at St. Louis. 

" During the ensuing Autumn some Sauk and Fox 
Indians came to St. Louis and had a consultation 
with General Harrison, Governor of Indiana Terri- 
tory, on the liberation of their relative, the mur- 
derer, then in prison. Quash Quam, a Sauk chief, 
who was the head man of the party, repeatedly said 
that 'Mr. Pierre Chowteau, sen., came several times 
to my camp and told me that Governor Harrison 
would liberate my relative, the murderer, if I would 
sell the lands on the east side of the Mississippi 
Eiver. At last I agreed to sell the land from the 
mouth of the Illinois Eiver as high up as Kocky 
Eiver — now Eock Eiver — and east of the ridge that 
divides the waters of the Mississippi and Illinois 
Eivers. This was all the land that I sold him on 



216 EARLY HISTORY OF THE 

those conditions.' Quash Quam also told the same 
story to Governor Edwards, Governor Clark, and 
Mr. Auguste Chowteau, commissioners appointed to 
treat with the Indian tribes of the Illinois Eiver, in 
the Summer of 1816, for lands on the west side of 
this river. Quash Quam said: 'You white men 
may put what you please on paper, but I tell you 
again that I never sold any lands higher up the 
Mississippi Eiver than the mouth of Kocky Eiver.' 
" In the treaty first mentioned the line commences 
opposite the mouth of the Gasconade Eiver, and 
runs to the head- waters of Jefferson Eiver,* and 
thence down to the Mississippi; from thence up the 
Mississippi Eiver to the mouth of the Ouisconsin 
Eiver, and up this river thirty-six miles; from this 
point in a direct line to a little lake in Fox Eiver 
of the Illinois; down Fox Eiver to Illinois Eiver, 
and down this latter to its mouth; from that point 
down the Mississippi to the mouth of the Missouri, 
and from thence to the place of beginning. f The 
Foxes and Sauks were never consulted, nor had any 
knowledge of this treaty — that is, the tribes at 
large. It was made and signed by two Sauk chiefs, 
one Fox chief, and one warrior. The annuity to be 
paid in accordance with treaty was $1,000. This 
payment was always made in goods sent from 
Georgetown, D. C. They were poor articles of 
merchandise, not at all suitable for the Indians, 

♦There is no such stream as Jefferson River. 

t See treaty dated at St. Louis, November 4, 1804. 



WEST AND NORTH-WEST. 217 

and very often damaged. The Indians received 
these goods, supposing they were presents made by 
the Government, and not payments upon land, till 
I, as their agent, convinced them to theT contrary. 

^'In the Summer of 1818, when the Indians heard 
that the goods delivered to them were annuities for 
land sold by them to the United States, they were 
astonished, and refused to accept the goods, denying 
that they had ever sold lands as stated by me, their 
agent. BUck Hawk in particular, who was present 
at this time, made a great noise about this land, and 
would never receive any part of the annuities from 
that time forward. He denied the authority of Quash 
Quam to sell any part of the land, and forbade the 
Indians receiving any part of the annuities from any 
American, otherwise their lands would be claimed 
at some future day. As the United States do insist 
on retaining lands according to the treaty of No- 
vember 4, 1804, why do they not fulfill their part of 
that treaty with the Indians as equity demands? 
The Sauk and Fox Indians are, according to that 
treaty, allowed to live and hunt on the lands as long 
as the aforesaid lands belong to the United States. 
In the Spring of 1827, about twelve or fifteen fam- 
ilies of squatters arrived and took possession of the 
Sauk village, near the mouth of Kocky Eiver. They 
immediately commenced destroying the bark boats 
belonging to the Indians ; and when the Indians made 
complaint at the village of the destruction of their 

property, they were abused by the squatters. 

19 



218 EARLY HISTORY OF THE 

*' When they made complaint to me as their agent, 
I wrote to Gen. Clark, Superintendent of Indian Af- 
fairs, at St. Louis, stating to him, from time to time, 
what had happened, and giving a minute detail of 
every thing that passed between the squatters and 
the Indians. The squatters insisted that the Indians 
should be removed from their village, saying that as 
soon as the land was brought into market they would 
buy it all. It was useless for me to show them the 
treaty and urge upon them the right that the Indians 
had to remain upon their land. They tried every 
method to annoy the Indians, by shooting their dogs, 
claiming their horses when they break into their 
poorly protected cornfields, selling them whisky 
contrary to the wishes and oft-expressed requests of 
their chiefs, particularly of Black Hawk, who both 
solicited and threatened them ; but all to no purpose. 

'' When these lands were sold in the Autumn of 
1828, there were about twenty families of squatters 
at and in the vicinity of the old Sauk village, mosb 
of whom attended the sale. There was but one 
family able to purchase a quarter section, unless we 
except George Davenport, a trader, who lived in 
Kock Island. To the land remaining unsold the 
Indians, of course, had still a right by treaty. This 
right, however, was not allowed, and they were or- 
dered to move off. In 1830 the principal chiefs and 
others among the Sauk and Fox Indians, informed 
me that they would move to their village on Iowa 
Eiver. The chiefs advised me to write to General 



WEST AND NORTH-WEST. 219 

Clark at St. Louis, asking him to send up a few of 
the militia; so that Black Hawk and his followers 
would see that every thing was in earnest, and 
would move to the west side of the Mississippi to 
their own lands. I wrote as advised, but General 
Clark did not think proper to comply. 

''In the Spring of 1831 Black Hawk and his 
party were joined by many Indians from the Iowa 
Eiver. . Then Gen. Gaines came on with a company 
of militia and regulars, and compelled them to re- 
move to the west side of the Mississippi. When 
Black Hawk recrossed the river, in 1832, with a 
party of Indians, who numbered in all three hund- 
red and sixty-eight, they brought with them all 
their women and children, showing that they had 
no intention of making war. Gen. Stillman's de- 
tachment, however, saw fit to attack them, and 
there was nothing left for them but to defend them- 
selves. The war ended in their defeat, and some of 
the principal Indians were put in chains and in 
prison at Jefferson Barracks. It is very well known 
by those acquainted with Black Hawk, that he ever 
sustained the character of a friend to the whites. 
Often has he taken into his lodge the wearied white 
man, given him food to eat and a blanket to sleep 
on before the fire. Many a good meal has the 
Prophet given to the traveler passing through his 
native village. He has recovered the horses of the 
white man from the Indian, and restored them to 
their rightful owner without asking compensation. 



220 EAELY HISTORY OF THE 

What right have we to tell any people, you shall 
not cross the Mississippi or any other boundary? 
Should the Indian wish to return and revisit the 
land where once he roamed in freedom, sole posses- 
sor of the land, shall we meet him in the deadly 
array of battle, simply because we have the power?" 
In the above extracts many occasional comments 
upon the ruling powers have been omitted. There 
is every reason to believe that, had the suggestions 
of Thomas Forsythe been listened to, the sad record 
of this unhappy war might never have been, and 
that of the untimely fate of some of our country- 
men, who fell victims to their exasperated fury at 
Kellogg's Grove, soon after the commencement of the 
campaign. 



WEST AND NORTH-WEST. 221 



CHAPTER XXIV. 

In 1833 the last Indian tribe of the Pottawota- 
mies sold all their lands in the north-eastern section 
of the State to the General Government, and bid a 
long farewell to the graves of their fathers. This 
cession being made and the public lands surveyed, 
the country was settled up in a few years. 

The Indian has some noteworthy traits of char- 
acter, as some of the following anecdotes will show ; 

Several years since the Sac Indians killed some of 
the Iowa tribe, and a demand was made for the mur- 
derers. By compromise, the demand was reduced to 
one Sac, and the tribe agreed that the murderer 
should be given up to death. The Indian on whom 
this sentence fell was, at the time, too sick to travel. 
A brother of the sick man volunteered to die in his 
stead, and marched with the Sac chief to the lowas, 
and cheerfully gave himself up to be executed. This 
noble act of the young Indian, who was so brave 
and generous as to suffer death in the place of his 
brother, softened the hearts of the lowas, and they 
restored the young Sac with honor to his nation. 

In the Fall of the year 1833, Mr. George E. 
Walker, Sheriff of La Salle county, had, in his offi- 
cial capacity, a singular transaction with a young 
Pottawotamie. Walker was a backwoods man, a 



222 EARLY HISTORY OF THE 

man of great ability, and keen insight into the In- 
dian character. This gave him great influence over 
the Indians. Two Indians had been concerned in 
the massacre of the whites in the Black Hawk war 
the previous year. They had been indicted for mur- 
der, and had appeared at the time the circuit court 
was to be held; but the term of the court was 
changed, and they were not tried. The Indians, 
supposing that the whites did not want them any 
longer, went with the rest of their tribe over to the 
west side of the Mississippi. Walker and other 
securities were responsible for the appearance of the 
prisoners. It was just after the close of the Black 
Hawk war, and angry feelings existed between the 
Indians and whites, yet Walker proposed to go alone 
among the Indians and bring back the prisoners. 
He went single-handed into the heart of the ene- 
my's country, two or three hundred miles from any 
settleiAent, and in the midst of a tribe who were 
exasperated against the whites. 

He called a council of chiefs, and it was agreed 
that the two young Indians should return with 
Walker, the chiefs being certain, as well as the 
young Indians, that they were to be hung. They 
also felt an extreme dislike to the ignoble manner 
in which they were to die. To be shot would have 
been more honorable; but still they went. Walker 
and the Indians bade a long farewell to the tribe, 
and started for Ottowa, where the court was to be 
held. They traveled, camped, and slept together 



WEST AND NORTH-WEST. 223 

till they came to Eock Island. At tliat time there 
were many Indians collected together there on a 
trading expedition. The prisoners had a strong 
dislike to being seen under guard, and requested 
the privilege of going alone through the settlement. 
Walker, who understood their character and lan- 
guage equally well, readily consented to their re- 
quest. They said they could die like men, but that 
they could not endure the dishonor of being led like 
dogs, under the power of Walker, among the whites 
and Indians at the Island. They went on alone, and 
met Walker at the place agreed on, on the opposite 
side. Walker had with him a horse, whose services 
he shared in turn with each Indian. Sometimes one 
of the Indians would ride on ahead and prepare camp 
for the travelers as they came up. Walker never 
held out the least inducement to them that they 
would be acquitted. ' One night they encamped at an 
old Sac encampment, by the request of the Indians, 
where they found good water and groves. 

Here Walker was entirely at their mercy. His 
horse ran away, and one of the Indians went in 
search of it, traveling ten or twelve miles before he 
found it, and returned with it to its owner. Indeed, 
he was in their power for many nights, when they 
might have killed him and returned to their tribe 
without again being sought for. For these traits 
of honor the Government procured able counsel to 
defend the Indians. Colonel William S. Hamilton 
was employed, and this gentleman, having great 



224 EARLY HISTORY OF THE 

influence with both whites and Indians, the Indians 
were acquitted, and returned safely to their nation. 

Another affair will show how they respected 
Walker, and how much influence and power he had 
over them. On Peoria Lake, about seventy miles 
below Ottowa, a young chief, Senacherine, found an 
Indian wdio had murdered another Indian. The 
chief brought him to Ottowa, and desired Walker 
to hang him. Senacherine said that Walker was a 
great man among the Indians, and, should he hang 
the Indian, it would do more to prevent crime than 
for his warriors to shoot him. Walker was not at 
home, and his father met the Indians, was kind and 
civil to them, and all the time in great anxiety as 
to how his son would extricate himself from the 
dilemma in which he would find himself on his 
return. 

On Walker's return, the young chief at once 
made known his business. Walker agreed to hang 
the prisoner, but said he was hungry and must 
have some dinner. While Walker was eating, he 
gave the young chief and those with him some 
brandy, and ate very slowly, that he might reflect. 
Walker was a large trader with the Indians, and, 
therefore, did not wish to displease the chief. At 
length, when his meal was finished, the brandy had 
had the desired effect in making the chief relax 
somewhat in his desire to have the man hung, as 
the prisoner himself had killed the other in a 
drunken frolic, and was totally unconscious of the 



WEST AND NORTH-WEST. 225 

enormity of his crime. When the chief had become 
sufficiently mellowed by the brandy, Walker got a 
rope as if preparing to hang the prisoner, and said, 
'*I will hang the prisoner now, if you desire it; but 
in a few months, when all the Indians will be at 
Chicago to receive their annuities, it will be more 
effectual in preventing crime among your tribe, to 
hang him in public before all the Indians. How- 
ever, I will hang him now, if you say so." The 
chief decided to postpone the hanging, and before 
the time came the affair was settled among them- 
selves. 

Another time, when the Indians were at Chicago 
to receive their annuities, a drunken Indian who 
had been on a frolic for several days, and was en- 
tirely covered, face and all, with mud and dirt, 
came up to Walker and desired to kiss him. Walker 
replied that it was Sunday — a holiday with the 
Americans; but that if he would come to-morrow, 
he might then kiss him. But the Indian became 
sober and forgot the matter. 

Once, on a steamboat on the Illinois Eiver, a 
young clergyman from one of the Eastern colleges, 
being very desirous of getting information^ concern- 
ing the Indian character and peculiarities, Walker 
was pointed out to him by some wag as a half-breed 
who could give him all the information he wished. 
Walker's appearance favored the joke, as he had a 
dark complexion and exceedingly black eyes, and 
also spoke the Indian language fluently. Walker 



226 EAELY HISTORY OF THE 

gave the clergyman all the information he desired, 
and the young man finished his questions by asking 
Walker about his Indian parentage. Walker carried 
out the joke without explaining, and the whole con- 
versation was published in one of the Eastern papers 
as information coming from a half-breed. 



WEST AND NORTH-WEST. 227 



CHAPTER XXV. 

The origin of the name Chicago has been much 
discussed. Some of the Indians are said to derive 
it from the name of the fitch, or polecat; others 
from that of the wild onion, with which the woods 
formerly abounded. All agree that the place was 
named after an old chief who was drowned in the 
stream bearing his name. This event must have 
been very remote. An old French manuscript 
brought by General Cass from France, purporting 
to be a letter from M. de Ligney, at Green Bay, to 
M. de Siette, among the Illinois, bearing date 1726, 
designates the placer as " Chicaugoux." This orthog- 
raphy is also found in old family letters written at 
the beginning of the present century. In giving 
the history of the place the Indians are reported as 
saying that the first white man who settled here 
was a negro. 

In an early day, when General Cass was appointed 
Ggvernor of Michigan Territory, he made a visit, 
with his family, to Chicago. Public houses were 
then scarce on the Lake Shore. As a gentleman in- 
forms me, the Governor called at a Frenchman's of 
the name of Byee, and inquired if they could get din- 
ner and have his horse fed. The Frenchman replied 
in the affirmative. The Governor sat for some time 



228 EARLY HISTORY OF THE 

looking at the landlord, waiting for an invitation to 
dismount, and the landlord, in like manner, looked 
silently at him. At length the guest said, "I sup- 
pose you do not know who I am." The Frenchman 
said he did not. "Well," said he, "I am Governor 
of Michigan." "0, be sure; we are all governors 
here. There is the stable, and there is the crib; just 
go and help yourself." The Governor did as he was 
bid. After dinner he did likewise, and went on his 
way rejoicing, having learned that there were more 
governors in the country besides himself. 

Among the landmarks of Chicago is Mr. Peck's 
building, which stands on the south-east corner of 
La Salle and South Water streets. It was finished 
and occupied by him in 1833, being built of oak 
and black walnut lumber, which were hauled from 
Walker's mills — now Plainfield — forty miles south- 
west from Chicago. He bought his lot of W. F. 
Walker for $80, now— 1855— valued at $42,500, and 
the largest part of it sold. In 1831 the story goes 
that gamblers would stake a quart of brandy against 
some Chicago lot near the court-house, and the 
brandy was esteemed the greater loss of the two. 
The best lots on Lake-street sold 'for from $30 to 
$100. On the 26th of November of this year the 
first newspaper was published in Chicago by John 
Calhoun. On the first of October, 1835, Colonel 
Russell started with two hundred ox teams to move 
the baggage with the last of the Indians, about 1,500 
in all. It took forty days to reach their destination 



WEST AND NORTH-WEST. 229 

west of tlie Missouri. It is less than forty years 
since Chicago was surrounded by Pottawotamies. 
The first census of Chicago was taken in 1837 — 
whites, 4,099 ; colored, 71 : total, 4,170. The Illi- 
nois and Michigan canal was begun in 1836, ground 
being broken at Bridgeport on the fourth of July. 
The Legislature of that year appropriated a half 
million of dollars for its construction. There was 
not, in 1831, a canal, railroad, or plank road lead- 
ing out of the city. Three years previously there 
was but one mail from the East each week, and that 
was brought from Niles on horseback. 

Mrs. Kinzie relates how once, upon Sunday, they 
rowed up to the point to attend service conducted 
by Eev. Mr. See, or father See, as he was more 
familiarly called. I knew him well, and as a good 
preacher, and if he ''got into the brush," as the 
pioneers used to say when one was at a loss how to 
go on in his sermon, it was no more than others did 
who made pretensions to greater advantages when 
trying to preach without a manuscript, and at last 
did not get the brush cleared away, after all, as well 
as did father See. Indeed, I have often thought of 
the story of one of the "regular succession," who, 
while preaching, suddenly discovered that " thirdly " 
had been blown out of the window, by means of 
which he lost the thread of his ideas, and came to a 
full stop. 

Father See, a blacksmith by trade, was poor, but 
he was one of the '' Lord's poor." If his hands wero 



230 EARLY HISTORY OF THE 

dingy, what else could be expected? It showed 
that he was willing to labor six days in the week 
for his own sustenance, and give God the fruits of 
his heartiest labors on the Sabbath, expecting noth- 
ing again, and that he thought more of the salva- 
tion of souls than of personal display. Mrs. Kinzio 
says: 

"We saw a tall, slender man dressed in a green 
frock coat, from the sleeves of which dangled a pair 
of hands giving abundant evidence, together with 
the rest of his dress, that he placed small faith in 
the axiom, 'Cleanliness is next to godliness.' He 
stepped briskly upon the platform, behind a table, 
and commenced his discourse. His subject was 
'The fear of God.' There was a kind of fear, he 
told us, that was nearly akin to love — so near that 
it was not worth while splitting hairs for the differ- 
ence. • He then went on to describe this kind of fear. 
He grew more and more involved as he proceeded 
with his description, till at length, quite bewildered, 
he paused and exclaimed, 'Come, let us stop a little 
while and clear away the brush.' He unraveled, as 
well as he was able, the tangled thread of his ideas, 
and went on with his subject. But soon again he 
lost his way, and came a second time to a halt. 
'Now,' said he, at the same time wiping the per- 
spiration from his forehead with a red cotton hand- 
kerchief which was many degrees from clean, 'now 
suppose we draw back a little piece.' Then he reca- 
pitulated what he wished to impress upon us of the 



WEST AND NORTH-WEST. 231 

necessity of cherishing a fear that was unto salva- 
tion, 'which fear,* said he, 'may we all enjoy, that 
together we may soar away on the rolling clouds of 
ether to a boundless and happy eternity, which is 
the wish of your humble servant,' and flourishing 
abroad his hands with an indescribable gesture, he 
took his seat. It will be readily imagined that we 
felt our own religious exercises at home to be more 
edifying than this, and that we confined ourselves to 
them thereafter." Mrs. Kinzie again speaks of him 
in another part of her book, and says: ''There was 
also a Mr. See, lately come into the country, living 
at the point, who sometimes held forth in the little 
school-house on Sunday, less to the edification of his 
hearers than to the unmerciful slaughter of the 
'King's English,'" to which I can add that I thank 
God he slaughtered sin also, and this is saying much 
more for him than can be said in justice of some 
who are wiser in their own conceit than was he. 

The following is extracted from a letter of Rev. 
Isaac Scarrit, to whom reference is elsewhere made : 
"On reading the 'Rise and Progress of Method- 
ism in Chicago,' by Grant Goodrich, Esq., I feel 
somewiiat inclined to form a kind of appendix to 
that narrative by giving some reminiscence of my 
own. In 1828 I succeeded Rev. Jesse Walker as 
superintendent of the Fox River mission. At that 
time James Walker was living where Ottowa now 
stands; Pierce Hawley, Edmund Weed, and J. Beres- 
ford lived at what was afterward called Holder man's 



232 EARLY HISTORY OF THE 

Grove. These, witli my own family at the mission, 
constituted the whole of the American population 
on the north-west side of the Illinois River, and be- 
tween that and Chicago. The whole region, except 
a strip along the river, was Indian country. While 
here I planned a trip to Chicago, distant some sev- 
enty or eighty miles, and about midsummer, with 
George Furkee, a half-breed Indian who resided at 
the mission, for my guide, I set out on my adventure. 
"The first night we lodged at an Indian village 
near to where Plainfield now stands. The next 
evening we entered Chicago, which, in addition to 
the buildings constituting Fort Dearborn, contained 
the old Kinzie house, a new house of Colonel Ham- 
ilton's, with, perhaps, one or two others in that 
quarter, and those of J. Kinzie and J. Miller up at 
'the point.' The latter two gentlemen seemed to be 
upon a strife with each other which should excel in 
honor and popularity whereby to promote their in- 
dividual interests. I took up my residence at Mil- 
ler's, who, with laudable generosity, undertook to 
administer to my comfort and further my views. 
The next day was the Sabbath, and I sent word to 
Lieutenant , that if it were his wish the super- 
intendent of the Indian mission would preach to the 
soldiers and others at such place and hour as he 
might appoint. Answet was returned that he should 
not forbid the preaching, but that he should neither 
authorize nor make, any arrangements for it. Not 
to be outdone by the honorable lieutenant on the 



WEST AND NORTH-WEST. 233 

point of independence, I declined going to the gar- 
rison under such circumstances, and made an ap- 
pointment for preaching at Miller's at night. Most 
of the citizens and some of the soldiers were present, 
and gave respectful attention; but in the matter of 
congregation we received rather more than we bar- 
gained for. During religious service a gang of 
boatmen, with their vociferous yo-he's, commenced 
landing and rolling up barrels, etc., near to the door. 
This was a trick of Kinzie's, so Miller said, out of 
spite to him for having the honor of entertaining 
the missionary, and for the agency he took in pro- 
moting the religion of the place. Some murmurs 
were uttered on the desecration of the Sabbath, and 
of disturbing a congregation in the quiet perform- 
ance of religious worship, and what redress the laws 
of the land provided; but it was finally concluded 
that the laws did allow ships' and boats' crews to 
land their cargoes on the Sabbath, and so the good 
people, after having manifested to the missionary a 
laudable regard for the sacredness of the Sabbath 
and the rights of religious worship, let the subject 
pass without further ado, and retired satisfied, no 
doubt, with the respect they had shown so rare a 
personage as a preacher of the Grospel. 

^'I can not say that this was the first sermon, or 
even the first Methodist sermon, that was ever 
preached in Chicago, but I may say that there 
were neither intimations or indications of its ever 

having been preceded; the whole movement, from 

20 



234 EARLY HISTORY OF THE 

first to last, bore the appearance of a new measure 
in that place. 

" But, whatever numerical rank that sermon may- 
claim, there is one consideration that renders it a 
subject of serious reflection to me. In years long 
gone by I had read of the massacre at Chicago, a 
place somewhere upon this mundane sphere, but 
upon what locality of our earth I was altogether 
ignorant. My impression was that it was some- 
where among the antipodes, but a deep feeling of 
sympathy for the slaughtered victims took possession 
of my mind. Could any thing short of Omniscience, 
then, have divined that the same sympathizing, ig- 
norant individual would one day stand on the very 
ground, and to some of the identical persons con- 
nected with the scenes of that fearful day should 
proclaim the message of 'Peace on earth and good- 
will to men.' But so it was, and such has ever been 
the dealing of God toward me. He has led me in 
paths I had not known, and I trust he will still lead 
me, and bring me unto his heavenly kingdom." 

I might here throw in the weight of my testimony 
as to whether this sermon of Kev. J. Scarritt's on 
his first visit to Chicago was in reality the first 
Methodist sermon ever preached there. Kev. Jesse 
Walker, and also Mrs. John Hamline, of Peoria, told 
me that in the Spring of 1826 father Walker went 
up on his boat from Peoria to Chicago. He had all 
the hands on board cease work till they could attend 
prayers, and all joined in singing, and then a fervent 



WEST AND NORTH-WEST. 235 

prayer was offered up in their behalf, asking the 
merciful protection of a Divine Providence through- 
out the day. I have no recollection that either of 
them told me that he preached during his stay in 
Chicago; but, if he did not, I presume it was the 
first time he ever went to a strange place, remaining 
as long as he did at Chicago, without preaching; 
and, as that was his errand up there, I have little 
doubt that he improved the opportunity he sought. 
He was at Chicago during his stay at Fox Eiver 
mission, and if any chance offered he would not hes- 
itate to improve it. 



236 EAELY HISTORY OF THE 



CHAPTER XXVI. 

The present chapter is devoted to the publishing 
interests of the Methodist Episcopal Church, and is 
taken from an article written by Kev. E. H. Waring, 
and published in the North- Western Christian Ad- 
vocate : 

" In the providence of God the proclamation of the 
'glad tidings' was accomplished for many centuries 
solely by the tongue and the pen. But when the 
Beformation was about to unchain the Word and 
send it forth untrammeled by Popish restraints, God 
added to these original agencies the- mighty agency 
of the press, which was consecrated to Christianity 
by being first employed to print the Holy Scrip- 
tures in the language of the people. This invention 
has given a great impulse to the spread of knowl- 
edge, for it secures the rapid multiplication of books 
at rates of cost which place them within reach of all 
classes of the population. 

'^ Wesley, distinguished for his practical sense, 
availed himself extensively of this means of dissem- 
inating his teachings, and for some length of time 
his press supplied the Methodists of England and 
America with Methodist literature. 

"At length Providence opened the way for the es- 
tablishment of a Methodist publishing house in the 



WEST AND NOETH-WEST. 237 

United States. The business was commenced under 
the superintendence of Eev. John Dickins, in Phil- 
adelphia, in 1789. The capital of the infant 'Con- 
cern' amounted to only six hundred dollars, which 
was borrowed from the * book steward ' himself. The 
first book printed was Thomas a Kempis's ' Imitation 
of Christ,' followed shortly by the 'Arminian Maga- 
zine/ the Hymn-Book, the Discipline, the 'Saint's 
Eest,' and 'Primitive Physic' Mr. Dickins contin- 
ued to manage the business, with great fidelity and 
prudence, till 1798, when he died. He united in 
himself the offices of pastor, book steward, editor, 
and clerk. 

"We can not, for want of space and information, 
enumerate all the changes which have occurred in 
the management and progress of the business during 
the seventy -four years of its existence. In 1804 the 
establishment was removed to New York, which city 
possessed the greatest facilities for the successful 
prosecution of the business. In 1808 the agents 
were released from pastoral duty, and were required 
to occupy themselves entirely with the duties of their 
office. Up to 1822 all the printing and binding was 
done by the job, in private establishments in the city. 
In that year a bindery was established in a building 
rented for the purpose, in Crosby-street, and the 
building referred to was purchased and a printing 
office set in it in September, 1824. This building, 
with additions made from time to time, being insuf-" 
ficient to accommodate the growing business, the 



238 EARLY HISTORY OF THE 

present site on Mulberry-street was purchased in 
1832, and new buildings were erected for the Con- 
cern, into which it was removed in September, 1833. 
These buildings, with an immense amount of stock 
and material, were destroyed by fire in February, 
1836, involving a loss of $250,000. To replace the 
Concern and renew the business $88,346.09 was re- 
ceived in subscriptions and collections made through- 
out the Church, and $25,000 from insurance. With 
these means the agents proceeded to erect the build- 
ings which are still occupied by the Concern, and 
the business went forward once more. 

"The Concern at Cincinnati was established in 
1820, under the direction of the late lamented 
Martin Enter, who continued in its management 
till 1832. 

"It is to be regretted that full information re- 
specting the progress of the publishing business of 
the Church is not within general reach. The exhib- 
its of the agents have not been published with the 
papers of the Greneral Conference, excepting those 
presented at the last two sessions, and we can not 
find any satisfactory account of the early history of 
the Western Book Concern. Whoever will gather 
all the available information respecting our publish- 
ing interests. East and West, and publish it for the 
benefit of the public, will do a good service to the 
Church. 

" Respecting the early history of the General Book 
Concern at New York, Ezekiel Cooper, who succeeded 



WEST AND NORTH-WEST. 239 

Mr. Dickins in the agency, and managed the busi- 
ness from 1798 to 1808, in his letter of resignation 
to the General Conference of 1808 says that the total 
assets of the Concern in 1799 were only $4,000, and 
the net capital only $1,000; but at the close of his 
term he reported the aggregate capital to be $45,000. 
The following exhibit shows the state of the Concern 
at the periods specified : 

, Aggregate Capital. Net Capital. 

1789 $600 00 

1799 4,000 00 $1,000 00 

1808 45,000 00 

1816 147,133 99 80,000 00 

1824 270,002 28 221,459 78 

1832 448,745 70 413,566 93 

1845 645,879 46 641,283 32 

1856 738,977 36 568,272 65 

1860 714,963 63 540,721 80 

1863 526,650 02 496,968 14 

1867 645,324 14 590,571 70 

"The reduction in the capital at New York since 
1856 has resulted, as we understand, from the heavy 
payments made to the Church South, and the sale 
of old stock at reduced values, rather than from any 
real falling off in the business of the Concern. 

''Kespecting the early condition of the Western 
Book Concern I have no information. The agents 
reported in 1856 that if it had not been for the re- 
duction of their assets by the dividends paid to the 
Church South, and by other payments, they would 
have had at that time a net capital of $250,816.62. 
Their report for that year was: 

Aggregate Capital. Net Capital, 

1856 $234,026 84 $150,405 74 

1863 329,398 10 263,112 24 

1867 571,989 32 460,374 47 



240 EAELY HISTORY OF THE 

"According to the above showing the aggregate 
capital of the two Concerns amounted, January, 
1868, to $1,217,313.46, and the net capital to 
$1,050,946.17. 

*'The reports show that the sales of books and 
periodicals have amounted, during the quadrennial 
terms specified, to the following amounts: 

New York Book Concern. Western Book Concem. 

1844—1848 $487,222 04 $125,413 65 

1848—1852 653,190 78 200,829 53 

1852—1856 1,000,734 18 649,840 73 

1856—1860 1,175,867 29 1,127,851 00 

Total since 1844 $3,317,014 29 $2,203,932 91 

Total Sales of both Concerns from 1844 to 1860..$5,520,947 20 

" The above showings are significant as exhibiting, 
first, the steady growth of the business as a whole, 
and, second, its large proportionate increase in the 
West. A few years more at the same rate of prog- 
ress and the old New York Book Concern will have 
to yield the palm to her enterprising daughter of the 
West. So mote it be." 



ii 



WEST AND NORTH-WEST. 241 



CHAPTER XXVII. 

The first Baptist Cliurcli in Plainfield was organ- 
ized in October, 1834. A list of tlie persons form- 
ing the Cliurcli, and officers, is here given: Rev. 
Joshua E. Ambrose, Moderator; members — Leonard 
Morse, Elizabeth Morse, Rebecca Carmon, Thomas 
Rickey, (elected Clerk,) Jane Rickey, Alfred B. 
Hubbard. The first church edifice was built in 
1836. Elder and deacon Ashley came to this place 
in 1837. The new church, which was built in 1857 
and dedicated in 1858, cost $4,100. The member- 
ship was one hundred and twenty-five. There was 
a defect in the Church management in supplying the 
pulpit, which prevented a greater prosperity. When 
the Church became dissatisfied with their preacher, 
or the preacher sought for a more congenial place of 
usefulness, this Church would be without a preacher 
sometimes for several months, and they were obliged 
to depend on a preacher from some other denomina- 
tion — some transient one — or do without any; and 
our Congregational brethren were oftentimes sub- 
mitted to a like inconvenience. 

The pulpit of the Methodist Episcopal Church 

has always been continually supplied, so that there 

was no break or want of a preacher to promulgate 

our doctrine of a full and a free salvation. This, 

21 



242 EARLY HISTORY OF THE 

together witli'our excellent Church government, and 
a membership that are to be co-workers together with 
God, has greatly contributed to the building up of 
the Methodist Episcopal Church in Plainfield, so 
that it almost doubles every other denomination at 
the present time. 

A few months since a Baptist deacon from Joliet 
inquired of me how the Baptist cause was prosper- 
ing in Plainfield. I replied that I did not know 
exactly, but that I had understood they were with- 
out a preacher, and, of course, they could not expect 
to flourish under such circumstances. After speak- 
ing rather despondingly of their want of zeal and 
derangement, he abruptly changed the subject, and 
asked how the Methodists were prospering with their 
new stone church. I replied that they had got the 
main building up so that it would soon be ready for 
the roof. He paused for a moment, and then said, 
in a very emphatic way, "What the Methodists can 
not do no one else needs try." 

I think that there are but few places of the same 
age and population in the State that have had so 
many powerful conversions as Plainfield. Some have 
gone home to heaven, many have gone widely astray, 
yet on our Church records are now two hundred and 
fifty names. In 1820 the Methodists of America 
were 13,000 less in the number of communicants 
than its elder sister, the Baptist Church, which 
dates its American origin a hundred and twenty- 
five years earlier than ours. Ten years later the 



WEST AND NORTH-WEST. 243 

Methodists were nearly one hundred thousand in 
advance of them. Great as that success appears, it 
is small compared with the statistics of the Cente- 
nary jubilee in 1866, when the Church numbered a 
full million of communicants, and her congregations 
a little less than four millions. 

The Church is now divided into several bands, yet 
all identical, save in some points of Church govern- 
ment. Our design is to reach all of our population, 
from the northernmost inhabitant of Canada to the 
Gulf of Mexico, and from the Atlantic to the Pacific, 
and thence, by missionary effort, to plant the stand- 
ard of the Cross and the liberty of the Gospel, as 
Methodism interprets it, to the uttermost verge 
of our green earth. These difierent bands of the 
Church number now about two million communi- 
cants. We probably owe the success of the Church, 
in a great measure, to its Arminian doctrines of re- 
generation, the witness of the Spirit, and sanctifica- 
tion, together with its systematic organization of a 
Church government, so perfectly adapted to the 
wants of a ruined world; and, above all, added to 
this is the blessing of God which we so earnestly 
seek to have bestowed upon all our labors. In no 
other sense can we accept the saying of the Baptist 
deacon, ''What the Methodist Episcopal Church can 
not do no one else needs try." 

In the growth of our village, as with all other 
Western towns, there came a time when the temper- 
ance cause needed greatly to be agitated. So a time 



244 EARLY HISTORY OF THE 

was fixed upon, about the year 1833-34, I think. 
Our circuit preacher was William Cravens, and Sam- 
uel Hamilton our presiding elder. It was decided 
that there should be a pitched battle against whisky. 
The habit of using it in the harvest field and in all 
places of public gathering had become so prevalent 
that many of our members had been led off by its 
baneful influence. So it was resolved that at a cer- 
tain quarterly meeting in the region of the Wabash 
William Cravens was to begin the attack, and Eev. 
S. Hamilton was to follow. William Cravens was not 
easily beaten in his strong arguments against the 
use of intoxicating drinks, and always went in for 
the teetotal system. When it came the turn for the 
presiding elder to speak the ground had been so well 
covered by the first speaker, and so well-toned and 
convincing were all his arguments that there seemed 
but little left for him to say, yet his happy and mas- 
terly descriptive powers were such that he soon held 
the attention of the congregation while he portrayed 
the drunkard's god and its worshipers. He said the 
god dwelt a long way up in a great hollow, with a 
bald head, and a long, crooked nose, and its wor- 
shipers would come and sacrifice their corn, their 
rye, and their barley, and by and by would come 
and drink down of his spirits, and become so lost 
that their hats would fly in the air, and they would 
shout like devils. The faithful, fearless, unflinching 
testimony that the preachers gave that day could 
not but have a salutary effect. 



WEST AND NORTH-WEST. 245 

But — to come from this to personal matters — I 
also had it to contend with, though not in quite so 
dignified a way. In an early day I rented my farm 
to a Mr. B., and was obliged, for a time, to reside 
in the same house with him. I was, of course, 
necessarily away from home a great deal while trav- 
eling on my circuit. Mr. B. had hands at work for 
him who loved a dram as well as himself. It was 
very annoying 'to the women, both Mrs. B. and my 
wife, that during my absence the jug of whisky was 
kept in the house and handed round freely before 
them. Immediately on my return it was concealed 
in the barn, and our tenant would become suddenly 
quite religious in his talk and professions. The 
women resolved to put a stop to this, and, taking 
their own way, recourse was had to a large dose of 
salts. Mrs. B. hesitated, but Mrs. Beggs, who had 
faced the dangers of Indian warfare, told Mrs. B. 
that the responsibility might rest on her shoulders. 
So one day just before the men came in at noon for 
their regular dram a large dose of salts was put into 
the jug. It had the desired effect, and the jug was 
removed to the barn for the remainder of our stay. 

The new stone church in Plainfield was com- 
menced in 1867, and completed the next year. It 
cost about $14,000. It was a great undertaking for 
Plainfield, but, all lending a helping hand, it came 
to a completion. The building committee were John 
Sheffler, E. I. Wood, and E. M'Closky. John Sheff- 
ler was superintendent. He paid more than any two 



246 EARLY HISTORY OF THE 

of US, besides the use of his team and hired man. 
It is a beautiful church, fifty-two feet by seventy, 
the tower and spire together one hundred and twenty 
feet high. It is handsomely and tastefully finished 
ofi", with a singers' gallery, large enough for twelve 
or fifteen persons, in the rear of the pulpit. In the 
basement we have three class-rooms, besides a con- 
venient lecture-room, with its door entering through 
the tower. There have been partly or wholly built 
this Summer, three or four other churches — the 
Baptist, Congregational, Evangelical, and Univer- 
salist. I think I am safe in saying that there are 
more persons in Plainfield, in proportion to its in- 
habitants, who come out on the Sabbath than in any 
other town in the State. As to the Evangelical 
Church in Plainfield, it now ranks second in the 
number of members in this place. The first class was 
formed by Rev. George H. Blank, and Simon Tolies 
presiding elder, Peter Burket class-leader. There 
were twenty-nine members, one local preacher — 
George Motuger — and one exhorter — J. Dillman. 
They have been favored with a number of revivals, 
and many powerful conversions. They have, per- 
haps, never had a more powerful revival and gen- 
eral ingathering than when under the two years' 
pastoral and ministerial care of Eev. Daniel D. 
Byers. They now number one hundred and fifty 
members. They have a good church and bell. It 
was commenced in 1854, and finished and dedicated 
the next year. This denomination has here located 



WEST AND NORTH-WEST. 247 

its college, and it has been in successful operation, 
with President Smith at its head, and an able fac- 
ulty to assist him. 

The following notice of the life and death of my 
wife, Elizabeth L. Beggs, is from the pen of Kev. 
W. F. Stewart: 

''She was born in Muskingum county, Ohio, De- 
cember 27, 1813, and died in Plainfield, 111., August 
7, 1866. She was the daughter of William and 
Susan Heath; was converted, and joined the Meth- 
odist Episcopal Church in Zanesville, Ohio, under 
the labors of Rev. Joseph Carper, in the year 1827. 
In the year 1830 she removed, with her parents, to 
the vicinity of Washington, in Tazewell county. 111. 
In the year 1831 she was married to Eev. S. R. 
Beggs. To marry a Methodist traveling preacher, 
in that day, in Illinois, gave but little promise of 
ease or temporal comfort. True, their first appoint- 
ment after marriage was to the 'eye of the ISTorth- 
West,' the embryo city of Chicago. But Chicago 
was a frontier mission station, from which the wild 
Indian had hardly taken his departure. There was 
no richly endowed Church corporation on Clark- 
street, or any wealthy membership to welcome and 
support the preacher and his family. They, how- 
ever, endured hardness as good soldiers, did the 
work of evangelists, and had the honor of making 
to the next session of the Illinois Conference the 
first return of members from Chicago. For years 
they did emphatically pioneer work, and, when 



248 EARLY HISTORY OF THE 

there was no prospect of support from the Church, 
sister Beggs would say to her husband, 'Go and 
preach, and I will manage to provide for the chil- 
dren.' With excellent talent for domestic economy, 
and great energy and perseverance, she always man- 
aged to keep the wolf from the door, and to extend 
hospitality to the itinerant and the emigrant who 
might call upon them. By the blessing of God, in 
after years, when they were compelled to retire from 
the regular work, they had a very comfortable home 
at Plainfield. Here, resting from their labors, they 
rejoiced to watch the growth and prosperity of the 
Church which they had assisted to plant. 

"For a year previous to her death, as sister 
Beggs approached the confines of the other world, 
she showed how calmly and cheerfully a Christian 
can march forward to meet the last enemy. She 
made all her arrangements, temporal and spiritual, 
and when, at last, the summons came, she fell asleep 
in Jesus without a struggle or a groan. A large 
concourse of friends and neighbors followed her re- 
mains to the grave, weeping on account of their loss, 
but inspired with the hope of meeting her again iii 
the resurrection of the just." 



WEST AND NOETH-WEST. 249 



CHAPTER XXVIII. 

A SHORT sketch of Methodism in Lockport, 111., 
may not come amiss in this work. Lockport was 
laid out in 1830, and a sale of lots in the Fail of 
1837 paved the way for the settlement of the town. 
In 1838 William Crissey was appointed to the Joliet 
circuit, at the Illinois Conference, with John Clark 
presiding elder. This circuit embraced Lockport. 
In the Winter of 1838 William Crissey formed the 
first class, consisting of the following members: 
Brother G. L. Works, class-leader, and wife, D. 
Breesee and wife, M. Brooks, E. Lowrie, Polly 
M'Millen, Lira Manning, A. Heath, and Julia 
Eeed, with some others not known. Brother S. 
Vandecar was second class-leader. In the Spring 
of 1842 Colonel Joel Manning joined on probation, 
and was appointed class-leader, and continued in 
this office for nearly fifteen years. It is due to his 
labors, together with the aid of Dr. Wicks and other 
brethren, that Methodism lives and now numbers 
more than any other denomination in Lockport. In 
1839 William Crissey and A. Chenoweth, with S. E. 
Beggs, supernumerary for the Lockport district. In 
Ottowa district, John Sinclair presiding elder, a good 
year, with a number of conversions. In 1840 W. 
Wigley. This year Eock Eiver Conference was 



250 EARLY HISTORY OF THE 

formed, and Lockport was left in Joliet circuit. In 
1841 W. Wigley; he left, however, before the year 
closed, and brother Bachelor was supplied. In 1842, 
Joliet circuit, E. Springer. In 1843 S. R. Beggs, 
Levi Jenks, and James Leckenby. In 1844 brother 
Minord, and S. Stocking presiding elder. In 1845 
0. H. Walker and E. R. Thomas. In 1846 0. H. 
Walker and brother Ellis. In 1847 John Nason. 
In 1848 0. A. Hunger. In 1849 L. F. Bering, 
and the same in 1850. In 1851 A. L. Adams. In 
1852 brother Stock dale, and Lockport was made a 
station. In 1853 brother Eoe. In 1854 0. H. 
Walker and M. Bead, Blainfield and Lockport being 
united. In 1855 M. Bead. In 1856 brother Wright. 
In 1857 brother Williams. In 1858-59 brother 
Baume. In 1861 S. Davidson. In 1852 B. T. 
Stover. In 1863 J. Vincent. In 1864-65 J. Line- 
berger. In 1866-67 J. L. Harris. In 1868 W. 
H. Fisher. 

In the year 1854-55, during M. Read's adminis- 
tration, the Lockport church was commenced and 
finished at a cost of about $7,000, which, perhaps, 
all things considered, no other minister in the Con- 
ference could have done. When all other resources 
failed, he pressed some of the most able brethren to 
the utmost of their ability, as he seemed determined 
to complete the church before he left the station. 
The church has proved one of the greatest blessings 
to the membership, and, no doubt, will continue to 
do so to generations yet unborn. A second parsonage 



WEST AND NORTH-WEST. 251 

was also built in 1867, costing about $3,000, on a 
beautiful lot opposite the church, well arranged and 
well finished, with the preacher and his family set- 
tled in it. The cost of this, as well as of the church, 
fell on a few of the more wealthy members. The 
Methodists are now the leading denomination of 
Lockport. 

On Tazewell circuit, in 1830, it took four weeks 
to make the round. Peter Cartwright was presid- 
ing elder. The first quarterly meeting was held at 
George Hand's, December 17th. The brethren pres- 
ent were Jesse Frankebarger, Thomas Savery — ^local 
preachers — and myself. The exhorters were William 
Goodhart and John Dixon, stewards, and George 
Hand. The usual questions being asked and an- 
swered, at last came that, '' What has been collected 
for quarterage?" The answer, eleven dollars; trav- 
eling expenses, one dollar. The second quarterly 
meeting was held at Eads' school-house, March 19, 
1831. The following brethren were present: S. E. 
Beggs, preacher in charge ; exhorter, William Heath ; 
steward, John Johnston ; class-leaders, William Eads, 
E. Wixam. Quarterage received, sixteen dollars 
and ten "cents. 

The third quarterly meeting was held at Dill en's 
settlement, and a camp meeting was also held on 
June 15, 1831. Members present: Peter Cart- 
wright, presiding elder; S. E. Beggs, preacher in 
charge; William Brown, local preacher; stewards, 
Gideon Holly, John Johnston, Thomas Snell, Abner 



252 EAELY HISTORY OF THE 

Carpenter, R. Wixam, and James Latty. Quarter- 
age, nine dollars and seventy-five cents; traveling 
expenses, fifty cents for Peter Cartwriglit, and one 
dollar and thirty-three and one-third cents for S. R. 
Beggs. The fourth quarterly meeting, and also a 
camp meeting, were held at Randolph's Grove, on the 
10th of September, 1831. Preachers, Peter Cart- 
wright and S. R. Beggs. The following brethren 
were examined and approved: Jesse Frankebarger, 
T. Savery, William Brown, Gabriel Watt, Thomas 
Davis, C. M'Cord, S. Stringfield, and J. Lathy. 
Exhorters: William Goodhart, John Dixon, William 
Heath, Robert Coper, Dudley Richards, and David 
Trimmer. The stewards were John Johnston, John 
Dixon, William Heath, George Hand, William 
Hodge, and William Eads. Gideon Holly, record- 
ing steward; James Lathy, secretary. After all, 
expenses deducted, there was left for me as quarter- 
age fifty-five dollars and sixteen cents. 

On the Tazewell circuit, in 1831, there was no 
church, nor towns, save Peoria and Pekin. There 
were four American families in the former, and six 
in the latter, and a membership of two hundred and 
fifty-two in all its boundaries. Look now at the 
cities and towns, its population and institutions of 
learning, its internal improvements, the number of 
preachers and presiding elders, its churches and 
comfortable parsonages, its thousands of member- 
ship, and their multiplied conversions annually. 

The first class and first quarterly meeting in 



WEST AND NORTH-WEST. 253 

South Ottowa was formed and held by myself. In 
1833 I formed the class, and in the Winter of 1834 
we held our first quarterly meeting at sister Pem- 
brook's, John Sinclair presiding elder. The breth- 
ren and sisters from a distance came in — sister Pitzer 
from about eight miles up Fox River, and brother 
Olmstead nearly the same distance up the Illinois 
Eiver. They were strangers, having but just moved 
into the country. I have given a particular account 
of this meeting elsewhere. 

At our Conference in Rockford, in 1849, where 
Bishop Janes presided, business was dispatched with 
great rapidity, and very much to the satisfaction of 
the Conference. When the time came for fixing a 
place to hold the next Conference, several preach- 
ers claimed that their stations had the preference. 
James Stoten presented Plainfield as being the most 
desirable. To this it was objected that it would not 
be possible to accommodate all the preachers. This, 
of course, called forth a short speech from myself. 
I said that all those whom the brethren and friends 
could not entertain could find accommodations at 
the hotels, there being two excellent ones in the 
place, and I would foot the bills myself. As the 
result, when the vote was put Plainfield was fixed 
upon, July 17, 1850. 

The time soon rolled round, and our little village 
witnessed its first Conference. The weather was 
extremely warm, and Bishop Hamline, who presided, 
felt its efi'ects very much in his feeble state of health. 



254 EARLY HISTORY OF THE 

Still he labored unremittingly, and preached a pow- 
erful sermon on the Sabbath, which came near pros- 
trating him. Our love-feast, as usual, was appointed 
at nine o'clock on Sabbath morning. All wished to 
enjoy it, and the consequence was that the church 
was very much crowded, and when it was time for 
love-feast to commence the Bishop asked the pastor 
if our rules had been obeyed in admitting persons 
into love-feast that morning. He said they had not. 
The Bishop then said, ''I can not consent to relate 
my experience before this mixed assemblage, and we 
will change it into a social meeting of singing and 
prayer." During this Conference I boarded ten 
preachers, and one day while at dinner one of the 
brethren wondered why it was that I succeeded in 
gaining so much more of this world's goods than 
the rest of the preachers. Brother R. Haney said, 
"I can tell you. While you are roasting your 
shins around the fire he has been at work." At 
that time brother L. Swormstedt was Book Agent, 
and not finding a suitable room for settling up his 
periodical accounts, he inquired after that man who 
had promised at the Rockford Conference to furnish 
suitable accommodations or foot the bill. As I had 
a small account to settle with him, I made my way 
up, and told him my errand, and gave him my name. 
He looked astonished, and asked if I was the man 
who was to foot the bill. I told him that I was, 
and he replied, '' When I heard of you down in Cin- 
cinnati, and of your promise, I took you to be some 



WEST AND NORTH-WEST, 255 

old Eevolutionary soldier." I said no, but that I 
had been in the Black Hawk War, and that my 
house had been made a fort where fifty men were 
stationed. 

It was at this Conference that we resolved to re- 
move the remains of Jesse Walker from their obscure 
resting-place, one mile south of our cemetery. I 
think it was in the Fall of 1834 that I performed 
the marriage geremony which united him to his sec- 
ond wife. He had then served two years in the 
Chicago mission station, after which he sustained a 
superannuated relation, and settled on a small farm 
about twelve miles west of Chicago, on the Des- 
plaines Eiver, and there he remained till he changed 
the cross for the crown, and earth for heaven, on 
the 5th of October, 1835. He was buried in Plain- 
field, and there rested till his sons in the Gospel re- 
solved to remove his remains to their present resting- 
place. When the hour arrived for the interment 
the Conference adjourned, and marched in solemn 
procession to the grave. The remains of his first 
wife had also been disinterred, and brought to be 
buried with him. In one large coffin the bones 
were placed, and laid as nearly in their natural 
order as possible. 

It was a season of great solemnity, both to our 
village and to the members of Conference. It had 
been arranged that there should be several speakers 
to bear testimony to the zeal of. this untiring serv- 
ant in the work of the Lord before the coffin was 



256 EARLY HISTORY OF THE 

concealed forever from our sight. As I liad known 
him personally longer than any other one present, 1 
was to lead in the remarks. After singing and 
prayer, I proceeded to give a concise history of his 
arrival in this State as missionary, in the Fall of 
1805, his extensive and different fields of labor, and 
especially our labors in the Central and Eock River 
Conferences. When I recounted our labors and suf- 
ferings in this new and uncultivated region together 
in the Lord's vineyard, my heart was too full for 
utterance, and I closed by adding, 'Tor all this I 
shall be well rewarded if, at last, I can lie down by 
his side in this beautiful resting-place of the dead." 
Eev. J. Scarritt, who followed, was very happy in 
his remarks in portraying the untiring labors, great 
usefulness, and happy death of this unexcelled mis- 
sionary. There were several others who made a few 
remarks, and upon our memories were forever en- 
graved the solemnities of the occasion. The Confer- 
ence proceeded forthwith to raise a subscription, that 
a suitable headstone might be placed to mark his 
sainted grave. I was appointed as a committee to 
procure it, and have made mention of it elsewhere. 
In 1831, or near this time, there was a call made 
for missionaries to go to Oregon, among the Flat- 
heads. By some means this tribe heard that the 
white man toward the setting sun had a big book 
that told all about the Great Spirit, and their anxi- 
ety to hear of him was so great that they called a 
council, and dispatched a delegation of six Indians 



WEST AND NOETH-WEST. 257 

to travel east till they came to the white man's wig- 
wam, that they might know what the book taught 
concerning the Great Spirit. As General Clarke, of 
St. Louis, was well known among them, they went 
to him as the one most likely to give them reliable 
information. When he learned their errand he gave 
them a Bible, and explained to them the white man's 
beliefs of the creation, fall, and restoration through 
Christ — that we, through him, might, upon the condi- 
tions of repentance and faith, be fit to enter heaven. 
Getting what further information they could, they 
started back to publish the glad news of salvation 
to their brethren, and what they had learned of the 
Great Spirit. It was reported that but few of them 
ever reached their home; most of them fell in the 
wilderness before they had the happiness of pointing 
their friends to the Lamb of God, who taketh away 
the sins of the world. 

Their solicitations for missionaries were so urgent 
that Bangs and Fisk advocated their new claim upon 
the civilized world, through the columns of the Ad- 
vocate, with great earnestness and ability, till there 
came up an enthusiastic response to the call. Jason 
and Daniel Lee and Cyrus Shepherd were sent out 
as missionaries to this new field of labor. Bangs 
says that this had a most happy effect upon the mis- 
sionary cause generally. Heretofore the entire fund 
raised for that purpose had not exceeded eighteen 
hundred dollars a year. The Macedonian cry was 

responded to throughout the entire Church by 

22 



258 EARLY HISTORY OF THE 

doubling the amount raised the year of their depart- 
ure. The mission formed by these men, Stevens 
says, has since become the nucleus of Christianity 
and civilization of the new and important State 
which has since arisen on the north Pacific coast. 

In the Fall of 1838, when our Conference was in 
session at Alton, in the midst of business, Jason Lee 
stepped into the Conference room, after seven years 
of absence. His long exposure to sun and rain, 
camping out nights, besides afflictions in the loss of 
his dear companion — a wife and mother — all pressing 
and wearing upon him amid his untiring labors, were 
as so many chapters of untold suffering; and yet, in 
his countenance, there was a heavenly resignation, 
and a mute expression which seemed to say, "Not 
my will, but thine be done." Our astonishment was 
increased when he introduced as his traveling com- 
panions two or three of the natives from the tribe 
of the Flathead Indians. It was very curious to see 
these Indians, with their heads perfectly flat from the 
nose upward to the crown, tapering all the way. . I 
suppose that at the present time this practice of 
wearing a board while quite young in order to bring 
the head to this peculiar shape is very well known, 
yet it would, no doubt, surprise us now to see sud- 
denly coming into a large audience these singular 
children of the forest. They had made considerable 
progress in learning, and had beautiful voices for 
singing, and sang several Methodist hymns in their 
own language. Some of them professed religion, and 



WEST AND NORTH-WEST. 259 

were members of tlie Church. Mr. Lee's design in 
bringing them here was to educate them and send 
them back as missionaries to Oregon. 

The foregoing is the most reliable information that 
I could get respecting the Oregon mission. I presume 
the sermon that General Clarke preached to the Flat- 
heads was the first and the last orthodox sermon he' 
ever preached. He died in St. Louis, on the 1st of 
September, 1838. He had been Governor from 1813 
to 1820, and Superintendent of Indian Affairs till his 
death. In 1803 he explored the Pacific coast, and 
through this means the tribe referred to probably 
became acquainted with him. When our zeal is 
brought in comparison with that of those ignorant 
Indians in obtaining a knowledge of the true God, 
with what force may we take to ourselves the charge 
of Paul to the brethren : '' Some have not the knowl- 
edge of God. I speak this to your shame." 



260 EARLY HISTORY OF THE 



CHAPTER XXIX. 

In Niles's Eegister, sixth volume, page 394, may 
be found the earliest suggestions of a canal from 
Lake Michigan to the navigable waters of the Illi- 
nois Eiver that we have found in print. The date 
is August 6, 1814, in the time of the war, and it is 
a paragraph from a series of editorial articles on the 
great importance, in a National point of view, of the 
States and Territories of this now great central val- 
ley. We give the extract: "By the Illinois Eiver 
it is probable that Buffalo may be united with New 
Orleans by inland navigation through Lakes Erie, 
Huron, and Michigan, and down that river to the 
Mississippi. What a route! How stupendous the 
idea! How dwindles the importance of the artificial 
canals of Europe compared with this water commu- 
nication ! If it should ever take place, the Territory 
of Illinois will become the seat of immense com- 
merce, and a market for the commodities of all re- 
gions." Governor Bond, at the first session of the 
General Assembly, in 1818, brought this subject be- 
fore that body in his inaugural message. He sug- 
gested an early application to Congress for a certain 
per centage from the sales of the public lands, to be 
appropriated to that object. In his valedictory mes- 
sage, in December, 1822, he again refers to it, and 



WEST AND NORTH-WEST. 261 

to his first address, and states: "It is believed that 
the public sentiment has been ascertained in relation 
to this subject, and that our fellow-citizens are pre- 
pared to sustain their representatives in the adop- 
tion of measures subservient to its commencement." 
His successor. Governor Cole, in his inaugural ad- 
dress, December 5, 1822, devoted four pages to this 
subject, and referred to an act of the preceding Con- 
gress, which gave permission to the State to cut a 
canal through the public lands connecting the Illi- 
nois Eiver to Lake Michigan, and granting to it the 
breadth of the canal, and ninety feet on each side. 
With this was coupled the onerous condition "that 
the State should permit all articles belonging to the 
United States, or to any person in their employ, to 
pass free forever." The Governor, who was a zealous 
and liberal advocate for an economical and judicious 
system of internal improvements, proposed to create 
a fund from the revenues received, from taxes on the 
military bounty lands, from fines and forfeitures, and 
from such other sources as the Legislature in its 
wisdom might think proper to set apart for that 
purpose. He further proposed the examination and 
survey of the river and the canal route in Illinois, 
and to memorialize Congress for a liberal donation 
of land in opening the projected lines of communi- 
cation. An act and memorial to Congress on the 
subject was passed by the Legislature during the 
session. This act, which was approved February 14, 
1823, provided for a board of commissioners, whose 



262 EARLY HISTORY OF THE 

duties were to devise and adopt measures to open a 
communication by canal, etc., also to invite the at- 
tention of the governors of the States of Indiana and 
Ohio, and, through them, the Legislatures of those 
States, to the importance of a canal between the 
Wabash and Maumee Kivers. Thomas Sloe, jr., 
Theophilus W. Smith, Emanuel J. West, and Eras- 
tus Brown were elected commissioners. At that 
time Sangamon Eiver and Fulton counties were the 
boundaries of settlements. Only a military and 
trading post existed at Chicago. A dozen families, 
chiefly French, were at Peoria. The northern half 
of Illinois was a continuous wilderness, or, as the 
impression was, an interminable prairie, and not 
likely to be inhabited for an age to come. Morgan 
county, which then included Scott and Cass counties, 
contained about seventy-five ftimilies, and Springfield 
was a frontier village of a dozen log cabins. Some 
of the commissioners, with the late Colonel Justice 
Post, of Missouri, as their engineer, made an explora- 
tion in the Autumn of 1823-24. Colonel E. Paul, 
of St. Louis, was also employed as engineer, with 
the necessary men to assist in making the survey 
complete. The party was accompanied by one com- 
missioner. Two companies were organized, and five 
different routes examined, and the expense estimated 
on each. The locks and excavations were calculated 
on the supposition that the construction was to be 
on the same scale of the Grand Canal, of New York, 
then in process of making. The probable cost of 



WEST AND NORTH-WEST. 263 

eacli route was reported by the engineers, the high- 
est being $716,110, the lowest $639,940. At the 
next session of the Legislature an act was passed — 
January 17, 1825 — to incorporate the Illinois and 
Michigan Company. The capital stock was one 
million of dollars, in ten thousand shares of one 
hundred dollars each. The stock not being taken, 
at a subsequent session the Legislature repealed the 
charter. During these movements within the State, 
the late Daniel P. . Cook, as the Eepresentative in 
Congress, and the Senator of Illinois, was unceasing 
in his efforts to obtain lands from the National 
Government to construct this work. As the result 
of these efforts, on the 2d of March, 1827, Congress 
granted to the State of Illinois each alternate sec- 
tion of land, five miles in width, each side of the 
projected canal. The finances of the State were so 
embarrassed as to prevent much being done till Jan- 
uary, 1829, when the Legislature passed an act to 
organize a board of commissioners, with power to 
employ agents, engineers, surveyors, draughtsmen, 
and other persons to explore, examine, and determ- 
ine the route of the canal. They were authorized to 
lay off town sites, sell lots, and apply the funds. 
They laid off Chicago near the lake, and Ottowa at 
the junction of Fox River. The Illinois survey and 
estimate were again made, but the improbability of 
obtaining a full supply of water on the surface level, 
and the increase of cost to near double the original 
estimate by reason of the rock approaching so near 



264 EARLY HISTORY OF THE 

the surface on the summit level between Chicago 
and Desplaines, led a subsequent Legislature to au- 
thorize a reexamination, to ascertain the cost of a 
railway with a single track for ninety-six miles. It 
was estimated at one million and fifty thousand dol- 
lars. It was a great mistake that this railway was 
not constructed. At a special session of the Legis- 
lature, 1835-36, an act was passed authorizing a loan 
of half a million of dollars for the construction of 
the canal, and the board of commissioners was reor- 
ganized. On the 4th of July, 1830, the first ground 
was broken. At the session of 1836-37 the internal 
improvement system became the absorbing question, 
and the canal was brought under the same influence. 
Loans to a vast extent were obtained for both ob- 
jects, and the most extravagant expectations were 
raised, never to be realized. As a financial measure, 
the canal loans were distinguished from internal im- 
provements and other loans, but all failed, with the 
credit of the State, before 1842. Contracts were 
made, and the work, on the scale projected, was 
pushed till over five millions of dollars had been 
expended, and the work still unfinished. By this 
time the credit of the State had sunk so low that 
no further loans could be obtained. The contractors 
were obliged to abandon their work, with heavy 
claims against the State, and, in 1843, a law was 
passed to liquidate and settle the damages at a sum^ 
not exceeding two hundred and thirty thousand dol- 
lars. At the session of the Legislature of 1842-43 



WEST AND NORTH-WEST. 265 

an act was passed to provide for tlie completion of 
the Illinois and Michigan Canal, and for the pay- 
ment of the canal debt. Under this act the bond- 
holders subscribed six hundred thousand dollars, the 
estimated amount necessary to complete the canal. 
In 1845 a board of trustees was organized, three in 
number, one appointed by the Governor, and two by 
the subscribers. The canal and its remaining lands 
and lots were transferred by the State to the board 
of trustees. Under this board the location of the 
canal between Chicago and Lockport was changed 
to a summit level eight or ten feet above the lake 
level. Work on the canal was resumed in the Sum- 
mer of 1845, and it was completed and opened for 
navigation in the Spring or Summer of 1848. The 
first sale of lands and town lots under the board of 
trustees took place in the Fall of the same year. 

I am indebted to Colonel Manning for the follow- 
ing correction to the above: 

"At the session of the Legislature of 1842-43 an 
act was passed of the following title: 

" ^An Act to provide for the completion of the Illinois and Mich- 
igan Canal, and for the payment of the Canal Debt.' 

"Of which the following is the preamble, to-wit: 

'"Whereas, it has been represented that certain holders of 
the bonds of this State are willing to advance the necessary 
funds for the completion of the Illinois and Michigan Canal on 
being secured the payment of their said advance and of their said 
bonds by a vested lien upon the said canal, lands, and revenues: 
For the purpose, therefore, of accomplishing an object so desir- 
able and beneficial to the said bondholders and the State, Be it 
enacted,' etc. 



266 EARLY HISTORY OF THE 

''Under the provisions of this act $1,600,000, the 
estimated cost of completing the canal, was sub- 
scribed by the said bondholders, and, in 1845, a 
Board of Trustees of the Illinois and Michigan Canal 
was organized, three in number, one appointed by 
the Governor, and two by the subscribers — the canal 
and its revenues, lands, and lots transferred by the 
State to the said board in trust. 

" Under the said board of trustees the place of the 
canal between Chicago and Lockport was changed to 
a summit level eight or ten feet above the lake level, 
on 'the rough cut.' Work on the canal was resumed 
in the Summer of 1845, and it was completed and 
opened for navigation in the Spring or Summer of 
1848. The first sale of lands and town lots under 
the board of canal trustees took place in the Fall 
of the same year." 

It was in the year 1816 — the same year of the 
rebuilding of the fort after its destruction by the 
Indians — that the land on which Chicago now stands, 
and a strip twenty miles wide running to the south- 
west along a contemplated canal route, was ceded to 
the United States by the Pottawotamies. They re- 
mained the peaceful occupants of it for twenty years 
afterward. It was not till 1836 that they were re- 
moved by the Government to lands appropriated for 
their use west of the Mississippi. Black Hawk con- 
tended for the lands nortK-west of this contemplated 
canal route, and a line running through to the mouth 
of Eock River. It appears that a treaty had been 



WEST AND NORTH-WEST. 267 

made by General Harrison at St. Louis, in Novem- 
ber, 1804, with tlie chiefs of the Sac and Fox 
nations — elsewhere referred to — in which they had 
ceded to the United States all their lands on Kock 
Eiver, and considerable more elsewhere. Mr. Peck 
says in the. Western Annals, page 546, that the tract 
of lands ceded by them in 1804 embraced all the 
country lying between the Mississippi, Illinois, and 
Fox Kiver of Illinois, and Wisconsin Eiver, compre- 
hending fifty millions of acres. It was in the same 
year — 1804 — in which General Harrison made the 
above treaty that the first fort was built in Chicago. 



268 EARLY HISTORY OF THE 



CHAPTER XXX. 

A SHORT sketch of Rev. John Hill and his arrival 
at Peoria Conference is among the matters of inter- 
est in the settlement of the State and the progress 
of Methodism. Hill was born in the State of Mas- 
sachusetts, on the 15th of September, 1768, town 
of Berry, county of Worcester. His father moved 
to Hampshire county, in the same State, when John 
was about four years old, and remained there to the 
day of his death. His mother belonged to Mr. G. 
Whitefield's Church, and the boy often heard her in 
earnest prayer in his behalf. He emigrated to Can- 
ada in his early manhood, where, at times, he felt a 
most earnest concern for his soul, sometimes pray- 
ing, and sometimes almost in despair. In the year 
1800 he went to hear Rev. Joseph Jewell preach, 
near Queenstown, on the Niagara. He says: "His 
whole sermon seemed directed toward myself, and I 
seemed such a great sinner that I cried for mercy, 
for it seemed to me that I was in the depths of de- 
spair. Happily for me, however, I resolved that, if 
I went to hell, I would go praying. With this res- 
olution, I continued praying, till, by faith, I claimed 
the promise, *He will have mercy, and our God, he 
will abundantly pardon.' The change was so great, 
and the evidence was so clear that I shouted at the 



WEST AND NORTH-WEST. 269 

top of my voice. I was in the depths of a forest, 
and the thought came to me, It is well you are in 
the woods, or you would frighten all around you. 
This did not deter me from continually saying, 
* Glory to God,' and in this happy frame of mind I 
continued, both on meeting in class and attending 
preaching, till Joseph Jewell gave me the privilege 
of uniting with ^ the Methodist Episcopal Church. 
In the year 1805 Robert Perry was sent to our cir- 
cuit, and came in the fullness of the blessing of the 
Gospel of Christ. He seemed to live in the full en- 
joyment of perfect love, and preached it to saint and 
sinner. He gave me to see such a beauty, and such 
a satisfying portion in this great blessing, that I 
never rested till I entered into its full enjoyment; 
and since that time I have had such a love for souls 
that I have prayed, exhorted, and preached for 
nearly fifty years, pointing sinners to the Lamb of 
God, and I trust that my feeble labors have not 
been in vain in the Lord. To God be all the glory." 
Hill emigrated to the State of New York in 1812, 
and labored with great acceptability and usefulness 
in the counties of Genesee and Livingston. In the 
Spring of 1838, April 2d, he came west, and arrived 
at Princeville, Peoria county. 111. The population 
was scarce, and but one Methodist sister in the 
neighborhood. He found in the ''far West" a great 
opening for ministerial labor, and he commenced to 
work in good earnest for God and the good of souls. 
In a short time he had formed a class of nine 



270 EARLY HISTORY OF THE 

members, and soon commenced preaching in the 
neighborhood. In the Fall of 1840 there was a 
camp meeting about fourteen miles west, at Cutler's 
Grove. E. Thompson and W. Pitner were preach- 
ers, and N. Berryman presiding elder. The little 
class at Prince ville concluded to have a tent on the 
ground, and several of the neighbors, both professors 
and non-professors, joined with them. A certain 
Mr. B. had several daughters at the meeting, and 
he gave orders to the teamster, if his daughters got 
religion, to hitch up the team and bring them 
home before the Methodists opened the doors of the 
Church for the reception of members. He had an- 
ticipated rightly. His daughters were among the 
converts. His teamster, according to orders, had 
up his team, and no entreaties would prevail on 
him to stay. The daughters were obliged to go 
home. Soon after this a Christian preacher was 
sent for, and the daughters were baptized by him, 
and they joined that body. They did not remain 
long as members, however, but came back and joined 
the Methodists, among whom they first found peace. 
In 1841 W. Pitner was appointed to Peoria circuit, 
and held a camp meeting at Princeville. I had the 
privilege of attending this camp meeting. It was 
increasingly prosperous till Sabbath evening, when 
W. Pitner was to preach, and I to exhort and call 
up the mourners. We expected that evening to re- 
sult in reversing the history of the past few days. 
The preacher began in his odd way of portraying 



WEST AND NORTH-WEST. 271 

the downward path of the sinner. His apt and un- 
varnished illustration of a sinner on the way to hell 
excited laughter all over the house. Every one 
seemed too merry and trifling to have any good re- 
sult from such a sermon, and most of us gave up all 
expectations of inviting in the mourners at its close. 
I felt that I could not exhort after that sermon, 
and told the elder so, when, all of a sudden, he 
changed to one of the most terrific descriptions 
of the finally impenitent, and the wailings of the 
damned, till it seemed as if the sound of those 
wailings reached our ears, and we could almost feel 
the darkness of despair brooding over the sinner, 
and see his tearless eyeballs rolling in their burning 
sockets, and his poor unsheltered soul cry out, '' Lost, 
lost, lost!" All eyes seemed as if turned toward the 
yawning pit, and the deep sighs heaved from a 
thousand breasts — Lord, save; Lord, save the sin- 
ner!' And then he pointed to the Savior as the 
sinner's only refuge, telling how, through him, there 
was yet hope, that all might come and receive par- 
don, and that the joys of heaven were freely offered, 
without money and without price. I have never 
witnessed another such a scene. It was as if they 
realized that the judgment was near at hand. Some 
fell, and lay all night and cried for mercy; others 
screamed as if hell was moving from beneath to 
meet them at their coming. And then how beauti- 
fully he cleared up the way and invited the sinners 
to the altar! Such as had strength came rushing 



272 EARLY HISTOHY OF THE 

and fairly tumbling along, some, with uplifted voices, 
crying, ''Thou Son of David, have mercy on us!" In 
the midst of all this the preacher's mellowing tones, 
and his invitation to come to Jesus, beggar all de- 
scription. The cries for mercy, the bursting forth of 
praise, and the preacher's voice sounding out over all 
with its melting tones of pardon produced a scene, I 
imagine, like that of God's ancient people when lay- 
ing the foundation of the second temple, "when the 
old men wept with a loud shout, so that they could 
not discern the noise of the shouts of joy from the 
voice of the weeping people." This camp meeting 
ended with glorious results, which may be seen to 
this day. That class suffered a great loss when Eev. 
John Hill left and settled near Plainfield. His labors 
were greatly blessed during his short stay of eight- 
een months with us, from which place he returned 
again to Princeville, and labored on faithfully till he 
entered upon his great reward. His son Benj£tmin, 
who was, in his father's lifetime, a faithful co-laborer 
Avith him, is yet among us, and a firm Methodist, 
battling for the Lord. Many of Eev. J. Hill's grand- 
children are living in and around Princeville, pillars 
of the Methodist Episcopal Church. May God's 
blessing rest upon them till they all meet in heaven ! 
John Hill received his license to preach from 
Nathan Bangs. A short time before his death he 
seemed to have a presentiment that his life was near 
its close, and one Sabbath, at the close of a sermon, 
he told his congregation that on the next Sabbath 



WEST AND NORTH-WEST. 273 

he should preach his farewell sermon. On the next 
Sabbath a large concourse of people met, filling the 
house. It may be easily imagined with what zeal 
and pathos he delivered his last words — a dying 
man to a dying congregation. His last sermon will 
not soon be forgotten, and eternity alone will reveal 
its results. In a few days after this, when a brother 
had called to see him, he requested that he would 
once more unite with him in prayer, and while he 
was commending his soul to God his happy spirit 
took its flight, and entered that rest which remains 
for his people. He died in the eighty-second year 
of his age, and fiftieth year of his ministry. 



274 EARLY HISTORY OF THE 



CHAPTER XXXI. 

The following circumstance, relating to Bishops 
Eoberts and Soule, was given me by Dr. P. Akers. 
They were on their way to Conference, and jour- 
neyed on pleasantly till they came to Columbus, on 
the Tombigbee River, Alabama. They left this place 
early in the morning, in the hope of being able to 
reach a house among the Choctaw people in time to 
avoid lying out among wild beasts and hostile In- 
dians. About noon they stopped to let their horses 
graze, turning them loose with their saddles off and 
their bridles tied up. Before long a company of 
Indians approached, and Bishop Soule's horse, a 
high-spirited animal, took fright and started off at 
full pace through the woods, followed by the rest. 
The Indians, seeing what they had done, made signs 
that they would pursue the horses and bring them 
back, and started off rapidly. 

The Bishops remained there till the next day, en- 
tirely without provisions, and at last concluded that 
they would walk around and see if they could see 
their horses, or some human being to relieve their 
hunger. They soon saw a smoke in the distance. 
Hastening to the spot, they found an old squaw cook- 
ing some kind of meat. Making signs of hunger, 
and of a wish to enjoy her hospitality, she soon 



WEST AND NOETH-WEST. 275 

placed the food before tliem. Bishop Eoberts sat 
upon the ground, taking the platter in his lap, and 
seemed to relish his food. The other two, however, 
after taking a mouthful or two, seeing the filthy- 
manner in which it was dressed and cooked, were 
not only compelled to refrain from eating more, bub 
lost what they had already eaten. But the Bishop 
kept on eating, and laughing as heartily as he ate at 
the daintiness of his companions. Before they left 
they found that they had been served to skunk's meat. 

They soon returned to the place where they had 
camped, and after waiting long and anxiously, at 
last saw the Indians returning with all their horses. 
They had gone back, had swum the Tombigbee, and 
had been caught and retained till the Indians claimed 
them. Some years after this. Dr. Akers was accom- 
panying Bishop Soule to a Conference through the 
same wild region, and when they arrived at the spot 
where they had camped, the Bishop related the cir- 
cumstance, and they had a hearty laugh over it. 

The following reminiscences are kindly furnished 
me by Eev. Hooper Crews : 

'' In 1832, in the town of Eussellville, Kentucky, 
God graciously converted some sinners, among whom 
was a merchant, who for several years had sold dry 
goods in the place. He was remarkable for his mo- 
rality — a quiet, diffident, retiring disposition. On 
one Sabbath morning, at the opening of public serv- 
ice, he, with a number of others, was to be baptized. 
He spent the day before his baptism in fasting and 



276 EARLY HISTORY OF THE 

prayer to God, that lie migtit be baptized with tlie 
Holy Ghost at the same time. Nothing occurred 
during the time of administering the ordinance more 
than what is common. After all were composed, 
and the more public service was about to commence, 
he was seen trembling as a man shaking with an 
ague. Almost at the same instant he arose from his 
seat and rushed into the pulpit, and commenced a 
most powerful appeal to the congregation. His elo- 
quence was astonishing, and a most extraordinary 
influence came down upon the people. The uncon- 
verted were confounded; God's people shouted for 
joy. In a few minutes he left the pulpit and ran 
out into the congregation, and began to lead the 
penitent to the altar. None of the unconverted 
resisted him, and he continued till all the space 
around the altar was occupied with scores, crying 
for mercy. All thought of preaching was given up, 
but the exercises of singing and prayer went on till 
long after dark. Many found peace in believing, 
who made very worthy and efficient members of the 
Church. 

" An instance will serve to show the powerful 
influence of the occasion. An old gentleman, well 
known for his hostility to an earnest Christianity, 
for some cause had that day attended the church. 
He had taken his seat in the gallery, as nearly con- 
cealed as possible. Mr. H., looking up, saw him, 
and ran up the steps. No sooner had he reached 
the floor above than the old gentleman, seeing his 



WEST AND NORTH-WEST. 277 

eye fixed on him, rose from his seat, saying, 'I will 
go!' and without resistance he came. 

*' After that remarkable day and its occurrences, 
there was nothing in the life of Mr. H. more than 
in the life of any other good, humble Christian. 
He lived many years an honor to the Church of his 
choice." 

I introduce a' few characteristic sketches as ap- 
propriate in this connection, from Rev. James B. 
Finley's '' Sketches of Western Methodism:" 

"I never heard brother Axley preach, but, ac- 
cording to popular fame, his pulpit performances 
were practical, forcible, and left a deep and abiding 
impression on the multitudes that thronged together 
to hear him. To this day we occasioanlly hear al- 
lusion made to a sermon he preached in the city of 
Baltimore, during the General Conference of 1820, 
of which he was a member. It must have been a 
potent sermon to be remembered so distinctly for the 
third of a century. I have heard also very frequent 
allusions to his pulpit performances in different parts 
of the Western country, where he had operated to 
good purpose as a traveling preacher, more partic- 
ularly in Kentucky and Tennessee. But perhaps 
the effort which occasioned the most talk and ob- 
tained the greatest notoriety was the one said to 
have been made in his own section of country, and 
was commonly known as Axley 's Temperance Ser- 
mon, though not so designated by any preannounce- 
ment. It should be known that East Tennessee in 



278 EARLY HISTORY OF THE 

those days was regarded as a great country for pro- 
ducing peach brandy, and for a free use of it; also, 
that the New Lights abounded there, familiarly 
called Schismatics, and that Church members who 
rendered themselves liable to a disciplinary process 
would occasionally go over to them, as a city of 
refuge,- where they felt safe from its restraints. 
With this preliminary, I proceed to recite a passage 
from the sermon, reminding the reader that my au- 
thority is not personal knowledge, but the verbal 
statement of a highly respectable Methodist minis- 
ter, Eev. Dr. G., of Tennessee. I write it substan- 
tially as I heard it: 

" Text : ' Alexander the coppersmith did me much 
evil: the Lord rewarded him according to his works.' 
2 Timothy iv, 14. 

"Paul was a traveling preacher, and a bishop, 
I presume, or a presiding elder at least; for he 
traveled extensively, and had much to do, not only 
in regulating the societies, but also in sending the 
preachers here, there, and yonder. He was zealous, 
laborious, would not build on another man's founda- 
tion, but formed new circuits, where Christ was not 
named, 'so that from Jerusalem, and round about 
unto Illyricum, he had fully preached the Gospel of 
Christ.' One new place that he visited was very 
wicked — Sabbath-breaking, dancing, drinking, quar- 
reling, fighting, swearing, etc., abounded; but the 
Word of the Lord took effect; there was a powerful 
stir among the people, and many precious souls were 



WEST AND NORTH- WEST. 279 

converted. Among the subjects of that work there 
was a certain noted character, Alexander by name, 
and a still-maker by trade; also, one Hymeneus, 
who was his partner in the business. Paul formed 
a new society, and appointed brother Alexander 
class-leader. There was a great change in the place; 
the people left off their drinking, swearing, fighting, 
horse-racing, dancing, and all their wicked practices. 
The stills were worked up into bells and stew-kettles, 
and thus applied to useful purposes. The settlement 
was orderly, the meetings were prosperous, and 
things went well among them for some time. But 
one year they had a pleasant Spring; there was no 
late frost, and the peach crop hit exactly. I do 
suppose, my brethren, that such a crop of peaches 
was never known before. The old folks ate all they 
could eat, the children ate all they could eat, the 
pigs ate all they could eat, and the sisters preserved 
all they could preserve, and still the limbs of the 
trees were bending and breaking. One Sunday, 
when the brethren met for worship, they gathered 
round outside of the meeting-house, and got to talk- 
ing about their worldly business — as you know peo- 
ple sometimes do, and it is a mighty bad practice — 
and one said to another, ' Brother, how is the peach 
crop* with you this year ?' '0,' said he, ^ you never 
saw the like; they are rotting on the ground under 
the trees ; I do n't know what to do with them.' 
' How would it do,' said one, * to still them ? The 
peaches will go to waste, but the brandy will keep; 



280 EARLY HISTORY OF THE 

and it is very good in certain cases, if not used to ex- 
cess.' ' I should like to know,' said a cute brother, 
' how you could make brandy without stills ?' * That 's 
nothing,' replied one, 'for our class-leader — brother 
Alexander — is as good a still-maker as need be, and 
brother Hymeneus is another, and, rather than see 
the fruit wasted, no doubt they would make us a 
few.' The next thing heard on the subject was a 
hammering in the class-leader's shop; and soon the 
stills in every brother's orchard were smoking, and 
the liquid poison streaming. When one called on 
another the bottle was brought out, with the re- 
mark, ' I want you to taste my new brandy ; I think 
it is pretty good.' The guest, after tasting once, 
was urged to repeat, when, smacking his lips, he 
would reply, ' Well, it 's tolerable ; but I wish you 
would come over and taste mine; I think mine is a 
little better.' So they tasted and tasted till many 
of them got about half drunk, and I do n't know 
but three-quarters. Then the very devil was raised 
among them; the society was all in an uproar, and 
Paul was sent for to come and settle the difficulty. 
At first it was difficult to find sober, disinterested 
ones enough to try the guilty; but finally he got 
his committee formed ; and the first one he brought 
to account was Alexander, who pleaded not guilty. 
He declared that he had not tasted, bought, sold, 
or distilled a drop of brandy. 'But,' said Paul, 
'you made the stills, otherwise there could have 
been no liquor made ; and if no liquor, no one could 



WEST AND NORTH-WEST. 281 

• 

have been intoxicated.' So they expelled him first, 
then Hymen eus next, and went on for complement, 
till the society was relieved of all still-makers, dis- 
tillers, dram-sellers, and dram-drinkers, and peace 
was once more restored. Paul says, ^Holding faith 
and a good conscience; which some having put 
away, concerning faith have made shipwreck; of 
whom is Hymene'us and Alexander; whom I have 
delivered unto Satan, that they may learn not to 
blaspheme.' 

" Of course they flew off the handle, and joined 
the Schismatics 

"Although the following anecdote of Mr. Axley 
may be familiar to many of our readers, we hope 
they will pardon us for inserting it, as it is worthy 
of a more durable record than the columns of a 
newspaper, from which we clip it. The late Judge 
Hugh L. White, who relates it, was a learned and 
able jurist and distinguished statesman, and for 
many years a conspicuous member of the United 
States Senate from the State of Tennessee. 

''On a certain day a number of lawyers and lit- 
erary men were together in the town of Knoxville, 
Tennessee, and the conversation turned on preachers 
and preaching. One and another had expressed his 
opinion of the performances of this and that pulpit 
orator, when at length Judge White spoke up : 

" ' Well, gentlemen, on this subject each man is, 

of course, entitled to his own opinion ; but I must 

confess that father Axley brought me to a sense of 

24 



282 EARLY HISTORY OF THE 

my evil deeds, at least a portion of them, more ef- 
fectually than any preacher I ever heard.' 

" At this, every eye and ear was turned, for Judge 
White was never known to speak lightly on relig- 
ious subjects, and, moreover, was habitually cautious 
and respectful in his remarks about religious men. 
The company now expressed the most urgent desire 
that the Judge should give the particulars, and ex- 
pectation stood on tiptoe. 

'' ' I went up,' said the Judge, ' one evening to 
the Methodist church. A sermon was preached by 
a clergyman with whom I was not acquainted, but 
father Axley was in the pulpit. At the close of the 
sermon he arose and said to the congregation, " I 
am not going to detain you by delivering an exhort- 
ation; I have risen merely to administer a rebuke 
for improper conduct, \yhich I have observed here 
to-night." This, of course, waked up the entire as- 
sembly, and the stillness was profound, while Axley 
stood and looked for several seconds over the con- 
gregation. Then stretching out his large, long arm, 
and pointing with his finger steadily in one direc- 
tion, he said, " Now, I calculate that those two 
young men, who were talking in that corner of the 
house while the brother was preaching, think that 
I am going to talk about them. Well, it is true, it 
looks very bad, when well-dressed young men, who 
you would suppose, from their appearance, belonged 
to some respectable family, come to the house of 
God, and instead of reverencing the majesty of Him 



WEST AND NORTH-WEST. 283 

that dwelleth therein^ or attending to the message 
of his everlasting love, get together in one corner 
of the house" — his finger all the time pointing as 
steady and straight as the aim of a rifleman — *' and 
there, during the whole solemn service, keep talk- 
ing, tittering, laughing, and giggling, thus annoy- 
ing the minister, disturbing the congregation, and 
sinning against 'God. I 'm sorry .for the young 
men. I 'm sorry for their parents. I 'm sorry they 
have done so to-night. I hope they will never do so 
again. But, however, that 's not the thing I was go- 
ing to talk about. It is another matter, so import- 
ant that I thought it would be wrong to suffer the 
congregation to depart without administering a suit- 
able rebuke. Now," said he, pointing in another 
direction, "perhaps that man who was asleep on the 
bench out there, while the brother was preaching, 
thinks I am going to talk about him. Well, I must 
confess it looks very bad for a man to come into a 
worshiping assembly, and, instead of taking a seat 
like others, and listening to the blessed Gospel, care- 
lessly stretching himself out on a bench, and going 
to sleep. It is not only a proof of great insensi- 
bility with regard to the obligations which we owe 
to our Creator and Redeemer, but it shows a want 
of genteel breeding. It shows that the poor man 
has been so unfortunate in his bringing up as not 
to have been taught good manners. He do n't know 
what is polite and respectful in a worshiping assem- 
bly among whom he comes to mingle. I 'm sorry 



284 EARLY HISTORY OF THE 

for the poor man. I 'm sorry for tlie family to 
whicli he belongs. I 'm sorry he did not know bet- 
ter. I hope he will never do so again. But, how- 
ever, this was not what I was going to talk about." 
Thus father Axley went on, for some time, " boxing 
the compass," hitting a number of persons and 
things that he was not going to talk about, and 
hitting hard, till the attention and curiosity of the 
audience were raised to their highest pitch, when 
finally he remarked : 

It I (I rj^YiQ thing of which I was going to talk was 
chevnng tobacco. Now, I do hope, when any gentle- 
man comes to church who can 't keep from using 
tobacco during the hours of worship, that he will 
just take his hat and use it for a spit-box. You all 
know we are Methodists. You all know that our 
custom is to kneel when we pray. Now, any gen- 
tleman may see, in a moment, how exceedingly 
inconvenient it must be for a well-dressed Methodist 
lady to be compelled to kneel down in a puddle of 
tobacco spit." 

" ' Now,' said Judge White, ' at this time I had in 
my mouth an uncommonly large quid of tobacco. 
Axley's singular manner and train of remark strong- 
ly arrested my attention. While he was stirring to 
the right and left, hitting those " things " that he 
was not going to talk about, my curiosity was busy 
to find out what he could be aiming at. I was 
chewing and spitting my large quid with uncommon 
rapidity, and looking up at the preacher to catch 



WEST AND NORTH-WEST. 285 

every word and every gesture — when at last he 
pounced upon the tobacco, behold, there I had a 
great puddle of tobacco spit ! I quietly slipped the 
quid out of my mouth, and dashed it as far as I 
could under the seats, resolved never again to be 
found chewing tobacco in the Methodist church.' 

"Samuel Hamilton belonged to a class distinctly 
marked. His position among the itinerant ranks 
the reader will be able to fix after he shall have 
read our sketch. He was the youngest son of Wil- 
liam Hamilton, who emigrated from Western Vir- 
ginia, in 1806, and settled in the wilds of Muskin- 
gum. Having purchased his land, and made every 
preparation for settling upon it, he called all the 
members of his household together, and, like Abram 
in Mamre, erected an altar, and consecrated his 
family and possessions all to God. This patriarch, 
with his devoted and pious wife, having given them- 
selves and children to God in an everlasting cove- 
nant, were encouraged, by God's promise, to expect 
that the children of their faith, and prayer, and 
godly example, would soon give evidence of the 
work of grace upon their hearts. At the removal 
of his father to Ohio, Samuel was in the fifteenth 
year of his age. His mind was early impressed with 
the importance of religion, and his tears and pray- 
ers gave evidence that the world and its pleasures 
could not fill the aching void in his aspiring soul. 
In the year 1812, when he was in the twenty-first 



286 EARLY HISTORY OF THE 

year of his age, he attended a camp meeting, held 
on the lands of Joseph Thrap, in the bounds of Knox 
circuit, where he was powerfullj'- awakened under 
the ministration of God's Word. It was impossible 
for him to suppress the deep and overwhelming con- 
victions of his soul, and in agony he cried aloud for 
mercy. For days and nights, in a distress border- 
ing upon despair, he sought for pardon. We had 
witnessed his anguish, and the unavailing cries of 
his heart for mercy, and all the sympathies of our 
nature were deeply aroused in his behalf. We took 
him to the woods, and there, in the solitude and 
deep silence of the night, with the curtains of dark- 
ness around us, we fell prostrate before God in 
prayer. We arose upon our knees, and embraced 
him in our arms, while, with streaming eyes and 
faltering voice, he exclaimed, ' Lord, I do be- 
lieve! Help thou mine unbelief!' Then, in a mo- 
ment, quick as thought conveyed by lightning, the 
blessing of pardon came down, and heaven filled his 
soul. Instantly he sprang to his feet, and, ' like 
the man in the 'beautiful porch,' he 'leaped, and 
shouted, and praised God '. for the delivering grace 
he bad obtained in that distressful hour. At this 
time we were traveling the circuit on which his 
father lived, and we had the pleasure of aiding the 
young convert in taking up his cross. He was 
zealous, determined, and active, and the Church and 
world alike saw that God had a work for him to do. 
He exercised his gifts in exhortation, and sinners 



WEST AND NOHTH-WEST. 287 

were awakened and converted through his instru- 
mentality. In the year 1814, at the Conference 
held in Cincinnati, he was admitted on trial as a 
traveling preacher. His first field of labor was the 
Kanawha circuit. The circuits in Western Virginia 
at that time were called the Colleges of the Meth- 
odist Church, where the young preachers were sent 
to get their theological education, or, in other words, 
take their theological course. Sometimes they were 
called ^ Brush Colleges;' at other times, the fields 
where the Conference broke its young preachers. 
Some of the most prominent of our Western preach- 
ers took their first lessons in the itinerancy upon 
this field. Here, amid the dense forests and flowing 
streams, the logical and metaphysical Shinn pored 
over his books, on horseback, as he traveled to dis- 
tant appointments; and here, among the craggy 
mountains and deep glens, the eloquent Bascom 
caught his sublimest inspirations. In this wild re- 
gion the preachers had to encounter much toil and 
hardship; and while they lived on the simple fare 
of the country, consisting of hominy, potatoes, and 
'mountain groceries,' they were not afflicted with 
those fashionable complaints denominated dyspepsia 
and bronchitis. As ' a specimen of the trials of 
Methodist preachers, we will relate an incident that 
occurred in the year 1836. One of the preachers 
of the Ohio Conference, having reached his circuit, 
and finding no house for his family, built for 
himself a shanty out of slabs, on the bank of the 



288 EARLY HISTORY OF THE 

GauUey River. Having furnished his wife with pro- 
visions for a month — that being the time required 
to perform his round — consisting of some corn-meal 
and potatoes, he started out upon his circuit. To 
reach his appointments, which were sometimes thirty- 
miles distant, it was necessary for him to take an 
early start. One morning, after he had progressed 
about half round his circuit, he started for an ap- 
pointment which lay on the other side of one of the 
Gaulley Mountains. It had rained through the night, 
and having frozen, the earth was covered with a 
sheet of ice. The travel was difficult even on level 
ground, so slippery was the surface; and unless it 
should thaw, the itinerant felt an apprehension that 
it would be difficult to ascend the steep sides of 
the mountain. Instead of thawing, however, the 
weather grew colder; but there was no retreat. 
His appointment was before him, and the mountain 
must be crossed. At length, after passing for some 
distance through a narrow valley, he came to the 
point where his narrow path led up the ascent. It 
was steep and difficult, and his horse would fre- 
quently slip as he urged him on. On the right the 
mountain towered far above, and on the left, far 
down, were deep and frightful precipices; a single 
misstep, and horse and rider would be dashed to 
pieces on the rocks below. After ascending about 
two-thirds of the elevation, he came to a place in 
his mountain path steeper than any he had passed 
over. Urging his tired but spirited steed, he sought 



WEST AND NOBTH-WEST. 289 

to ascend; but the horse slipped. Seeing his dan- 
ger, the preacher threw himself off on the upper 
side, and the noble animal went over the precipice, 
bounding from rock to rock, deep down into the 
chasm below. The preacher retraced his steps, and 
on coming round to the point where his horse had 
fallen, he found him dead. Taking off the saddle, 
bridle, and saddle-bags, he lashed them to his back, 
and resumed his journey, reaching his appointment 
in time to preach. The balance of the round was 
performed on foot, and at the expiration of four 
weeks from the time of starting, he joined his com- 
panion in her cabin, on the bank of the river, thank- 
ful for tjie providence which had returned him safely 
home. 

*' Here young Hamilton studied theology and hu- 
man nature, in both of which he became well versed. 
His preaching talents were peculiar, and often did 
he make his discourses sparkle with wit and elo- 
quence. Sometimes he would indulge in a rich vein 
of humor, which, without letting down the dignity 
of the pulpit, would send a thrill of delight among 
his audience. No one enjoyed a little pleasantry 
more than himself; and having a peculiar horror 
for any thing like a sour godliness, he may, at times, 
have gone a little too far over to the other extreme. 
He had a quick perception of the ridiculous, and 
was not very well able to command himself even in 
the pulpit when any thing occurred to excite that 

sense in his mind. We recollect of his telling us 

25 



290 EARLY HISTORY OF THE 

of an occasion of this kind, which occurred at a 
meeting on the waters of the Little Kanawha. At , 

a certain appointment there lived a Colonel , 

whose family were members of the Church, and who 
had a respect for religion, though he was too fond 
of the world to make a profession thereof. He was 
regular in his attendance, and on the occasion to 
which we have alluded, he was in his seat, attended 
by a neighbor of his, who was respectable enough, 
with the exception that at times he would lose his 
balance under the influence of intoxicating liquor. 
He had taken on this occasion just enough to make 
him loquacious without being boisterous. Hamilton, 
after singing and prayer, arose and gave out for 
his text the first Psalm, which reads as follows: 
'Blessed is the man that walketh not in the coun- 
sel of the ungodly, nor standeth in the way of sin- 
ners, nor sitteth in the seat of the scorner,' etc. 
He entered upon the discussion of his subject by 
showing what was to be understood by walking in 
the counsel of the ungodly ; and as he entered upon 
the description of the ungodly, and their various 
wicked ways and bad examples, he saw the friend 
of the Colonel punch him in the ribs with his elbow, 
and overheard him say, ' Colonel, he means you.' 
'Be still,' said the Colonel, 'you will disturb the 
congregation.' It was as much as the preacher 
could do to control his risibles; but he progressed 
with his subject ; and as he described another char- 
acteristic of the ungodly in standing in the way of 



WEST AND NORTH-WEST. 291 

sinners, the force of tlie application was too strong 
to be resisted, and the Colonel's friend, drawing up 
closely, elbowed him again, saying, ^He certainly 
means you, Colonel.' 'Be quiet, the preacher will 
see you,' whispered the annoyed man, while he re- 
moved as far from him as he could to the other end 
of the seat. The preacher had arrived at the third 
characteristic of the ungodly; and as he, in earnest 
strains, described the scorner's seat, the Colonel's 
friend turned and nodded his head at him most sig- 
nificantly, adding, in an under tone, 'It's you, it's 
you, Colonel; you know it's you.' By this time the 
most of the congregation were aware of what was 
going on, and cast significant smiles and glances at 
one another. Those who understood the features of 
the speaker could easily discover that he was moving 
along under a heavy press of feeling, and unless 
something should occur to break the excitement, he 
must yield to the impulses of his nature. Just at 
this crisis a little black dog ran up the aisle, and, 
stopping directly in front of the pulpit, looked up in 
the preacher's face, and commenced barking. The 
scene was ludicrous enough; but how was it hight- 
ened when the Colonel's friend rose from his seat, 
and deliberately marching up the aisle, he seized the 
dog by his neck and back, and began to shake him, 
exclaiming, 'Tree the preacher, will you? tree the 
preacher, will you?' Thus he kept shaking and 
repeating what we have written, till he arrived at 
the door, when, amid the yells of the dog and the 



292 EARLY HISTORY OF THE 

general tittering of the audience, lie threw him aa 
far as he could into the yard. This was too much 
for Hamilton, and he sat down in the pulpit, over- 
come with laughter. It would have been impossible 
for him to have resumed his subject, or even to have 
dismissed the congregation. Suffice it to say that 
preaching was done for that day; and ever after, 
when the Colonel went to Church, he was careful 
that his friend was not by his side. 

'' Samuel Hamilton was well instructed in the doc- 
trines, and Discipline, and peculiarities of Methodism, 
and wherever he went his labors were appreciated, 
and souls were blessed." 



1 



WEST AND NORTH-WEST. 293 



CHAPTER XXXII. 

''An important Western character appeared in this 
field in 1816. Young failed to reach the district after 
the General Conference of that year. James B. Fin- 
ley came to supply his place, and continued to super- 
intend it till 1819, with extraordinary zeal and 
success. Few men have attained more distinction as 
evangelical pioneers of the West. He was, in all 
respects, a genuine child of the wilderness — one of 
its best 'typical' men — of stalwart frame, 'features 
rather coarse,' but large, benevolent eyes, 'sandy 
hair, standing erect,' a good, expressive mouth, a 
'voice like thunder,' and a courage that made riot- 
ous opposers, whom he often encountered, quail 
before him. He did not hesitate to seize disturbers 
of his meetings, shake them in his athletic grasp, 
and pitch them out of the windows or doors. 
Withal, his heart was most genial, his discourses 
full of pathos, and his friendships the most tender 
and lasting. All over the North- West he worked 
mightily, through a long life, to found and extend 
his Church, traveling circuits and districts, laboring 
as missionary to the Indians, and chaplain to prison- 
ers, and, in his old age, making valuable historical 
contributions to its literature. 

"Though born in North Carolina — in 1781 — his 



294 EARLY HISTORY OF THE 

childhood was spent in Kentucky, where he grew up 
with all the hardy habits of the pioneer settlers. In 
early manhood he and all his father's family were 
borne along by the current of emigration into the 
North-Western Territory, where he lived to see his 
State — Ohio — become a dominant part of the Amer- 
ican Union. He had been a rough, reckless, and 
entirely irreligious youth, associating with Indians, 
a 'mighty hunter' among the 'backwoodsmen,' fond 
of nearly every excess, and of the most hazardous 
adventures with savage men and beasts. The camp 
meetings of the Presbyterians and Methodists in 
Kentucky had spread, about the beginning of the 
century, a vivid religious interest all over the West. 
Finley's sensitive, though rough nature, could not 
escape it. He went with some of his associates 
to Cane Eidge, Kentucky, his former home, to wit- 
ness one of these great occasions. His own story 
gives us a striking view of them in their primitive, 
their rude Western grandeur and excesses. 'A scene 
presented itself,' he says, 'to my mind, not only novel 
and unaccountable, but awful beyond description. A 
vast crowd, supposed by some to have amounted to 
twenty-five thousand, was collected together. The 
noise was like the roar of Niagara. The sea of hu- 
man beings seemed to be agitated as if by storm. I 
counted seven ministers, all preaching at the same 
time, some on stumps, others on wagons, and one, 
William Burke, standing on a tree which, in falling, 
had lodged against another. Some of the people 



WEST AND NORTH-WEST. 295 

were singing, others praying, some crying for mere}'' 
in the most piteous accents. While witnessing these 
scenes a peculiarly strange sensation, such as I had 
never felt before, came over me. My heart beat 
tremendously, my knees trembled, my lip quivered, 
and I felt as though I must fall to the ground. A 
strange, supernatural power seemed to pervade the 
mass of mind there collected. I became so weak 
that I found it necessary to sit down. Soon after, 
I left and went into the woods, and there strove to 
rally and man up my courage. After some time I 
returned to the scene of excitement, the waves of 
which had, if possible, risen still higher. The same 
awfulness of feeling came over me. I stepped up on 
a log, where I could have a better view of the surg- 
ing sea of humanity. The scene that then presented 
itself to my eye was indescribable. At one time I 
saw at least five hundred swept down in a moment, 
as if a battery of a thousand guns had been opened 
upon them. My hair rose up on my head, my whole 
frame trembled, the blood ran cold in my veins, and 
I fled to the woods a second time, and wished that 
I had staid at home.' He went to a neighboring 
tavern, where, amid a throng of drinking and fight- 
ing backwoodsmen, he swallowed a dram of brandy, 
but afterward felt worse than before; 'as near hell,' 
he says, ' as I could wish to be, in either this world 
or that to come.' Drawn irresistibly back to the 
meeting, he gazed again, appalled, upon its scenes. 
That night he slept in a barn, a most wretched man. . 



296 EARLY HISTORY OF THE 

The next day he hastily left for his home, with one 
of his companions. They were both too absorbed in 
their reflections to converse as they journeyed; but, 
says Finley, *When we arrived at the Blue Lick 
Knobs I broke the silence which reigned between 
us, and said, ''Captain, if you and I do n't stop our 
wickedness the devil will get us both." ' Tears 
gushed freely from the eyes of both. The next 
night was spent without slumber, at a place called 
May's Lick. 'As soon as day broke,' adds Finley, 
' I went to the woods to pray, and no sooner had my 
knees touched the ground than I cried aloud for 
mercy and salvation, and fell prostrate. My cries 
were so loud that they attracted the attention of 
the neighbors, many of whom gathered around me. 
Among the number was a German, from Switzer- 
land, who had experienced religion. He, under- 
standing fully my condition, had me carried to his 
house and laid on a bed. The old Dutch saint 
directed me to look right away to the Savior. He 
then kneeled by my bedside, and prayed for me most 
fervently in Dutch and broken English. He rose 
and sang in the same manner, and continued singing 
and praying alternately till nine o'clock, when sud- 
denly my load was gone, my guilt removed, and 
presently the direct witness from heaven shone fully 
upon my heart. Then there flowed such copious 
streams of love into the hitherto waste and desolate 
places of my soul that I thought I should die with 
excess of joy. So strangely did I appear to all but 



WEST AND NORTH-WEST. 297 

the Datcli brother that they thought me deranged. 
After a time I returned to my companion, and we 
started on our journey. what a day it was to my 

souir 

"Astonishing — superhuman, almost — as seem the 
travels and labors of many of the earlier itinerants, 
none of them could have surpassed the adventurous 
energy of Nolley, on his Tombigbee circuit, among 
the rudest settlements and Indian perils. For two 
years he ranged over a vast extent of country, 
preaching continually, stopping for no obstructions 
of flood or weather. When his horse could not go 
on he shouldered his saddle-bags and pressed forward 
on foot. He took special care of the children, grow- 
ing up in a half-savage condition over all the coun- 
try, and catechised and instructed them with the 
utmost diligence as the best means of averting bar- 
barism, from the settlements. To his successor on 
the circuit he gave a list of them by name, solemnly 
charging him, 'Be sure to look after these children.' 
He labored night and day, also, for the evangeliza- 
tion of the blacks. When Indian hostilities pre- 
vailed the settlers crowded into isolated forts and 
stockades. Nolley sought no shelter, but hastened 
from post to post, instructing and comforting the 
alarmed refugees. He kept 'the Gospel sounding 
abroad through all the country,' says our authority. 
The people could not but love him, admiring and 
wondering at his courage, and the very savages 
seemed to hear a voice saying unto them, 'Touch 



298 EARLY HISTORY OF THE 

not mine anointed, and do my prophets no harm. 
It was in this wild country that happened the fact 
often cited as an illustration of the energy of 
the primitive Methodist ministry. ^The informant, 
Thomas Clinton,' says a Southern bishop, 'subse- 
quently labored in that region, and, though a gen- 
eration has passed, he is not forgotten there. .In 
making the rounds of his work Nolley came to a 
fresh wagon track. On the search for any thing 
that had a soul, he followed it, and came upon the 
emigrant family just as it had pitched on the ground 
of its future home. The man was unlimbering his 
team, and the wife was busy around the fire. 
''What!" exclaimed the settler upon hearing the 
salutation of the visitor, and taking a glance at 
his unmistakable appearance, "have you found me 
already ? Another Methodist preacher ! I left Vir- 
ginia to get out of reach of them, went to a new 
settlement in Georgia, and thought to have a' long 
whet, but they got my wife and daughter into the 
Church; then, in this late purchase — Choctaw Cor- 
ner — I found a piece of good land, and was sure I 
would have some peace of the preachers, and here is 
one before my wagon is unloaded." Nolley gave him 
small comfort. ''My friend, if you go to heaven 
you '!! find Methodist preachers there, and if to hell 
I am afraid you will find some there; and you see 
how it is in this world, so you had better make 
terms with us, and be at peace." ' . . . . 

"Nathan Bangs was at this Conference as a 



WEST AND NORTH-WEST. 299 

spectator. He had been laboring on Canada circuits, 
and had hardly heard of M'Kendree, whose fame, 
nevertheless, now filled all the West. Bangs went, 
on Sunday, to Light-Street Church, the center of 
interest, the cathedral of the occasion and of the 
denomination. He says: 'It was filled to overflow- 
ing. The second gallery, at one end of the chapel, 
was crowded with colored people. I saw the 
preacher of the morning enter the pulpit, sun- 
burned, and dressed in very ordinary clothes, with 
a red flannel shirt which showed a large space be- 
tween his vest and small-clothes. He appeared more 
like a poor backwoodsman than a minister of the 
Gospel. I felt mortified that such a looking man 
should have been appointed to preach on such an 
imposing occasion. In his prayer he seemed to lack 
words, and even stammered. I became uneasy for 
the honor of the Conference and the Church. He 
gave out his text: ''For the hurt of the daughter 
of my people am I hurt; I am black; astonishment 
hath taken hold on me. Is there no balm in Gilead? 
is there no physician there? why, then, is not the 
health of the daughter of my people recovered?" 
As he advanced in his discourse a mysterious mag- 
netism seemed to emanate from him to all parts of 
the house. He was absorbed in the interest of his 
subject; his voice rose gradually till it sounded 
like a trumpet. At a climactic passage the efiect 
was overwhelming. It thrilled through the assem- 
bly like an electric shock; the house rang with 



300 EARLY HISTORY OF THE 

irrepressible responses; many hearers fell prostrate 
to the floor. An athletic man sitting by my side fell 
as if shot by a cannon-ball. I felt my own heart 
melting, and feared that I should also fall from my 
seat. Such an astonishing effect, so sudden and 
overpowering, I seldom or never saw before.' 

''Bangs refers again, in his History of the Church, 
to this sermon, and says he saw 'a halo of glory 
around the preacher's head.' M'Kendree's general 
recognition as leader of Western Methodism, to- 
gether with his evident fitness for the Episcopal 
office, doubtless led to his nomination, but this re- 
markable discourse placed his election beyond doubt. 
'That sermon,' said Asbury, 'will decide his elec- 
tion.' Asbury had formerly favored Lee's appoint- 
ment to the Episcopate. M'Kendree had become 
endeared to him in the conflicts of the West, and he 
now saw reason to prefer him even to Lee. The 
.Church had become rich in great and eligible men." 



WEST AND NORTH-WEST. 301 



CHAPTER XXXIII. 

I HAD a mode of administering Discipline which, 
though not in the usual way, was in order, and ef- 
fective. Several years since, in the first quarterly 
meeting of Clark county, it was my lot to have a 
presiding elder who filled that important office for 
the first time. After he had asked me the regular 
questions, and I had answered them, he asked me 
what was my method of admitting probationers into 
full membership at the expiration of six months; 
also, if I admitted seekers of religion after they had 
given satisfactory evidence that they desired to flee 
from the wrath to come and be saved from their 
sins, upon the recommendation of their class-leader, 
after having met with the class six months. I said 
that I admitted all such into full membership. Said 
he, "You are not Methodistical in that particular; 
for none ought to be admitted before they profess 
religion." " Well," said I, " before I can change 
my practice I must have higher authority." He 
replied, ''I shall have an Episcopal decision next 
Conference." It seems that some reporter had un- 
derstood Bishop Hamline to say that professors of 
religion alone were to be admitted into full member- 
ship, and it was published in the Christian Advo- 
cate. 



302 EARLY niSTORY OF THE 

The Bisliop discovered and corrected it as follows : 

-CORRECTION. 

•• ^"K\^ York, June 4, lS-17. 

"IvEV. Messrs. Bond vt Coles — Dear BrcUircn, — 
Oue thought in the address reported in the Advo- 
cate wj\s so inaptly set forth by me that it was mis- A\ 
undoi^tooii; and as it beai*s on the Discipline, it 
wore bettor to notice it. The fifth paragraph, in- 
stead of reading, * Our rules rcqxdrc membei*s,' 
etc, should have expressed the following sentiment: 

"'Our rules do not require that pei^sons received 
into our Church profess convei^sion, and in more 
than half our bounds thov are often received with- 
out convei'sion. Possibly there may be fifty thou- 
Siuid sucli, markeii ** S." on our class-books, as " seek- 
oi*s;" and in h^u-niony, too, with our Discipline, which 
makes "a desire to flee from the wrath to come, and 
be saved from sin," duly " manifested " the only con- 
dition. But is there nothing in the Discipline to be 
set ofi' agvoinst these terms of membei*ship ? The chiss 
is one thing. Here the catechumens mingle with 
the more mature in grace, enjoy their prayers, and 
fi*om them, with Gobi's blessing, le;u*n the way. But 
we can not safely receive and retain membei*s who 
refuse to visit the class-l^X)m. If they become in- 
curably neglectful, let their names, by due forms, be 
taken from the class and Church records. I sol- 
emnly believe that if tliis plan,* etc., as reported. 

" I do not know that I used these words, but such 
is the sentiment I aimed to express. The error is 



WEST AND NORTH- WEftT. 303 

not at all ftuq)riBiri^^, an tlio r^;rnarkH woro Ktrictly 
extempore, and do douLt wanting in prcciHion; an 
liaHtily uttcrod though U often aro. 

''ItcHpectfully yoiir-H, L. L. JIamline." 

At the next quart^^rly meeting I a«kcd the elder 
if lie was Htill of the Harne opinion roHpecting the 
reception of Heekerw into the Church. " Ycm,' Haid 
he; and then very confidently quoted Binhop llam- 
line'8 viewH, as publinhed in the Chrifttian Advocate. 
I then handed him the correction. lie rea^l it 
over twice; and I then requested him to rea/1 it to 
the members of the quarterly conference, which ho 
refuBcd to do. This was the last I heard, however, 
of an episcopal decision, on receiving seekers into 
full membership. 

In 1844, when I traveled Milford circuit, John 
Hunter was my colleague. It was his first year. 
He was a young man of great promise, and, al- 
though his attainments were limited, liad more than 
ordinary ability. Luke Hitchcock was my presiding 
elder. This year was the first and only time that 
any thing like a charge ever came up against me at 
Conference. This charge was for maladministration. 

Brother M. had been on trial for several years, 
and he wished to be a^lmitted into full membership, 
and if not found worthy, that he might Vje dropped 
out of probation. As there were some members 
who were bitterly opposed to his admission, on ac- 
count of some reports not favorable to him having 



304 EARLY HISTORY OF THE 

been circulated, in order to decide tlie matter satis- 
factorily to all parties, I gave M. the privilege, 
which he wished, of answering to all the charges 
or complaints which were afloat concerning him, 
before a number of male members of the Church. 
This was more than the Discipline required, yet I 
wished to give all a fair chance. I thought it the 
most satisfactory course to pursue, and when he was 
permitted to answer for himself, the committee de- 
cided that nothing worthy of '' death or of bonds " 
could be found against him. He came up the next 
day for admission. The class-leader and nearly all 
of the class were present, and I then said : '' If any 
one has any objections to this brother, let him speak 
now, or let him hereafter hold his peace." There 
being no objections raised, I then received him into 
full membership. One of our preachers, hearing of 
the matter, objected to the manner in which I put 
the question. He said that I should have asked the 
class-leader if he could recommend him, and made 
out a charge against me. When the Bishop asked 
Hitchcock, my presiding elder, if there was any 
charge against me, he said : '' There is nothing 
against brother Beggs." "Yes," said the preacher, 
" there is a charge of maladministration." The 
Bishop asked the elder again : '' Is there anything 
against brother Beggs ?" and he again replied : 
'' There is nothing." Said the Bishop : *' Pass his 
character." And here ended the charge of mal- 
administration. 



WEST AND NOETH-WEST. 305 

I give a sketch of tlie life of the Rev. John Sin- 
clair, to whom reference has been frequently made 
in this volume. He was born in Virginia. At the 
age of five years he came with his father into East 
Tennessee, and there, in the midst of privations and 
many hinderances to intellectual training, he remained 
during his boyhood. The opportunity for attending 
school was limited; the qualifications of teachers 
were very inferior. Brother Sinclair used to relate 
that his first teacher in East Tennessee was a Mr. 
Eowe, who could read and write a little. He taught 
us to pronounce the vowels as follows : A was ahU- 
some, fa; E was eblesome, fe; I was iblesome, fi; 
0, oblesome, fo; U, ublesome, fu; Y, yblesome, fy; 
& was called ampersand; and Z was called izzard, 
or zed. Eowe knew nothing about figures. In 
spelling Aaron, it was. Great A, wee a, r-o-n. The 
few advantages, however, that he possessed in rela- 
tion to acquisition of letters in the schools, he la- 
bored to improve under very trying and peculiar 
circumstances. He states in relation to himself, 
that by reading by fire-light, he was enabled to re- 
tain what little learning he had, and made some ad- 
vancement. He remarked that he had heard it said 
that "A little learning is a dangerous thing," but 
he had never had enough to expose him to that 
danger. 

At the age of twenty, with his father and family, 
he removed to Kentucky, and on the 19th of Feb- 
ruary, in 1819, he was married to Lydia Short, who 
26 



306 EARLY HISTORY OF THE 

is now his bereaved widow. It was about one year 
after this when God forgave his sins, and renewed 
his heart in so gracious and powerful a manner, that 
he could never doubt the change that was wrought. 
Shortly after his conversion he was made a class- 
leader, and soon the impression was made upon his 
mind that he ought to preach the Gospel. This im- 
pression seems to have at first found no response in 
his companion. Many now dread the trials of an 
itinerant life; many still look upon it as connected 
wdth privations that they could not endure, but, 
compared with what then must have been presented 
to any one that would dare look into the future be- 
fore engaging in such a work, it must now be an 
easy task. How she felt as to any particular trial I 
do not know. We learn, however, from a little 
scrap that he has left, probably written in 1855, 
that one night, when he supposed that all were 
asleep, and that no one on earth knew any thing of 
his anxiety, when struggling in relation to his duty, 
he heard a voice, of which he says, '' It was not the 
voice of God — it was not the voice of an angel, but 
it was the voice of my wife, saying, 'Go, and do all 
the good you can.'" This was in September, 1825, 
and some time between the 15th and 20th of that 
month he was admitted on trial in the Kentucky 
Conference. In 1831, however, having for some 
time felt that the existence of slavery in the State 
of Kentucky was a serious thing, and dreading its 
consequences upon after generations — and this was 



WEST AND NORTH-WEST. 307 

the feeling generally of Methodist ministers at that 
time — he resolved to take a transfer to the Illinois 
Conference. He came, and was appointed to the 
Jacksonville circuit. Here his labors in this State 
commenced. They continued till, perhaps, 1836, 
when they were slightly interrupted, and he sus- 
tained a supernumerary relation, and took work in 
Peoria. It was probably in 1846 that for one year 
he was returned upon the Minutes as superannuated. 
With the exception of these brief interruptions, till 
here he took the superannuated relation, each year, 
from the time he came — 1831 — he continued to per- 
form ''effective labor," and I will add that it was 
also efficient labor — labor that told favorably upon 
the Church in building it up in holiness, extending 
its borders, and multiplying its numbers. I discover 
from the Minutes, that when, in 1833, he was 
placed upon the Chicago district, that while it em- 
braced what now is the city of Chicago, it also took 
in Galena on the west, and Peoria on the south! 
Think of such a district as that ! — traveling around 
it ! — what is now two Annual Conferences ! To this 
field of labor he went, leaving an afflicted wife in 
the wilds of Fox Eiver. But privations could not 
deter him. It was frontier work, a sparse popula- 
tion, neighborhoods remote from each other, roads 
without bridges, and vast plains without a stake or 
mark to direct his course, except the points of tim- 
ber, miles apart; but he undertook and did accom- 
plish the work of superintending such a district. 



308 EARLY HISTORY OF THE 

The next year he was returned to the same district, 
with a little change. Galena was taken off on the 
west, but it still extended from Chicago to the San- 
gamon Eiver on the south, including all the region 
of country intervening, or Peoria, Bloomington, and 
all the settlements in that extent. This will give 
you some idea of his toils and conflicts. I am sorry 
that I can not give the details of his labors on this 
extended district. In 1835 he was removed from 
the Chicago district. It was a painful occurrence to 
him, of which he thought and spoke to his own per- 
sonal friends; and though he felt there was some 
mistake, still he harbored no resentment, and spoke 
of it as a man of God. He was placed upon the 
Sangamon district. I was then in charge of the 
church at Springfield. Owing to his financial con- 
dition, his poor health and that of Mrs. Sinclair, it 
was quite inconvenient, if not almost impossible for 
him to remove his family. They had been some 
years on Fox Eiver, five or six miles above the city 
of Ottawa. He came to one quarterly meeting; he 
became sick, and nearly five weeks elapsed before 
he was able to leave. During this time, when I sat 
by his bedside, laid my hand upon his forehead 
scorching with fever, I have heard him talk of his 
invalid wife at home, and tears would wet his pil- 
low. Yet amidst all the trials of such occurrences 
I never heard him complain. I never heard him wish 
he had not entered the work; I never heard him 
mention a word of retreat; no — it was ''Onward!" 



WEST AND NORTH-WEST. 309 

and as soon as lie was able to sit alone lie was de- 
sirous of reaching his home, and by the aid of 
friends soon set out to accomplish that object. 

For several years before his death he was a resi- 
dent of Evanston — for two years as pastor — and 
after that till his death as a superannuate. Up to 
the time that he entered upon this pastoral charge, 
I had never found a man who cared for consistent 
practical piety that did not love John Sinclair. 
Men were so universally impressed with the honesty 
of this minister and his Christian fidelity, that when, 
through the common infirmities and weaknesses of 
our nature, he erred, for I do not pretend to say he 
did not err — that he was not fallible — none charged 
him with evil motives. ''It was a mistake — it was 
not intended." He was emphatically, in the judg- 
ment of men, as the apostle warned the Church to 
be, ''without offense, blameless, harmless — a son of 
God without rebuke." 

When he was tried, God took him to receive his 
crown. Long was it his wish that he might not 
linger when called to pass away, and if he did, he 
earnestly hoped that it might be under circumstances 
where he could care for himself without troubling — 
as he was wont to express it — his friends. God 
favored him in this matter ! After all his wander- 
ings to and fro amidst the pelting storms and the 
dreary wastes; after his going out and his coming in 
from an afi3.icted family for so many years; after all 
his privations, what a pleasing thought to have him 



310 EAELY HISTORY OF THE 

die at home! Doubtless he desired to die without 
lingering; but, sudden as was his death, he was not 
unprepared. But a short time since he said to his 
family and friends, and especially his wife, " Do n't 
weep for me when I go away." What an idea was 
that of death! "Do n't weep for me when I go 
AWAY !" We think about it as death. He did not 
see it. He looked on the shore of immortality. To 
him it was going away; it ^2^.^ falling asleep. Jesus 
said, "He that keepeth my saying shall not see 
death." "Don't," said he, "put on mourning; it 
seems to me that it is very improper to mourn for 
a minister who has gone to so good a place as 
heaven!" This was his dying request. Death 
found him ready, no doubt. All the time he was 
ready. 



WEST AND NORTH-WEST. 311 



CHAPTER XXXIV. 

The first session of the Eock Eiver Conference 
was held on the camp-ground near the Seminary. 
There were sixty-four large regular tents, besides 
many small temporary ones. We had heavy rains 
at the beginning of the meeting, but no one seemed 
inclined to leave the ground on account of it, and 
so graciously were they preserved that no case of 
sickness originated on the ground, and those who 
were sick recovered in the course of the meeting. 
The congregations were large, and very attentive, 
and many were brought from darkness to light, and 
from the power of Satan unto God. It was esti- 
mated that about four thousand persons were pres- 
ent on the Sabbath, who listened with eagerness to 
the sermon preached by the bishop. It is worthy 
of note that no guard was necessary, and that no 
disturbance took place during the meeting. The 
closing exercises of the Conference, which were de- 
livered in the presence of the congregation, were 
short, but deeply impressive. An address was deliv- 
ered by the superintendent, and the appointments 
read off. Our Conference room was an inclosure of 
twenty feet square, which consisted of logs hastily 
thrown up. The large cracks between the logs were 
badly chinked, and the earth was strewn with straw 



312 EARLY HISTORY OF THE 

as a floor or carpeting. A large canvas tent was 
erected and filled with beds for the accommodation 
of the preachers who boarded with the tent-holders. 
Bishop "Waugh, who was President of the Confer- 
ence, took up his lodging with a private family. 
There had already been held three Conferences in 
this State where the preachers were accommodated 
in the same manner — the two first at Shiloh, and the 
.last at Padfield's — and another, also, in Missouri. 
The minutes of this Conference are very imperfect, 
in consequence of the reports which have been mis- 
laid, such as the report of the stewards, and, also, 
those of the missionary, centenary, and temperance 
questions. 

Among those who were admitted on trial were P. 
Eichardson, C. N. Wagar, H. Hubbard, N. Swift, 
W. B. Cooley, S. Wood, A. White, M. F. Shinn, D. 
Worthington, H. Whitehead, James Ash, R. A. 
Blanchard, A. M. Early, E. P. Wood, C. Campbell, 
P. Judson, H. P. Chase, H. Hadley. Those who 
remained on trial were S. Spater, A. Haddleston, 
George Copway — an Indian — William Vallette, John 
Johnson, J. W. Whipple, 0. H. Walker, J. G. 
Whiteford. Those who were admitted into full con- 
nection were J. L. Bennett, N. Jewett, J. Hodges, 
J. M. Snow, P. Brown, H. J. Brace, M. M'Murtry, 
D. King, S. BoUes — all of whom were ordained this 
year, besides others — Jesse Halstead and Joseph L. 
Kirkpatrick — who were not ordained. The dea- 
cons were H. W. Frink, William Simpson, T. M. 



WEST AND NORTH-WEST. 313 

Kirkpatrick, M. Bourne, William Gaddis, B. H. Cart- 
wright. Those elected and ordained elders were J. 
Crummer, J. Pillsberry, J. J. Stewart, E. Springer, 
J. Halstead, J. L. Kirkpatrick. Located — F. 0. 
Chenoweth. Supernumerary preachers — none. Su- 
perannuated, or worn-out preachers — A. Brunson, 
Eobert Delap, T. Pope. None were expelled from 
the connection. None had withdrawn. 

The eleventh question, "Were all the preachers' 
characters examined?" was strictly attended to by 
calling over their names before the Conference. 
None had died this year. Total number of mem- 
bers, 6,154. 

The fourteenth question, "What amounts are 
necessary for the superannuated preachers, the wid- 
ows and orphans of preachers, and to make up the 
deficiencies of those who have not obtained the reg- 
ular allowance on the circuits?" was not answered. 

Question 15th — "What has been collected on the 
foregoing accounts, and how has it been applied?" 
Stewards' report, not found among Conference papers. 

Question 16th — "What has been contributed for 
the support of missions, what for the publication of 
Bibles, tracts, and Sunday school books?" Not 
answered. 

Question 17th — "Where are the preachers sta- 
tioned this year?" 

Chicago District, J". T. Mitchell^ P. E. — Chicago, 
to be supplied, H. Crews, William Gaddis. Wheeling, 
J. Nason, one to be supplied. Elgin, Sims Bolles.* 

27 



314 EAELY HISTORY OF THE 

Crystalviiie, 0. H. Walker. Eoscoe and Belvidere, 
M. Bourne. Eockford, S. H. Stocking.* Sycamore, 
L. S. Walker,* N. Swift. Dupage, William Kimball.* 
JSTapierville, C. Lamb.* 

Ottowa District, J. Sinclair, P. E. — Ottowa, 
Jesse L. Bennett. Milford, E. Springer. Wilming- 
ton, K. Lunnery. Joliet, W. Weigley.* Lockport, 
W. Bacbelor.* Indian Creek, A. White. Princeton, 
J. M. Snow. Bristol, H. Hadley. 

Mt. Morris District, John Clark , F. U., and 
A, M'Miortry, Superintendent. — Buffalo Grove, R. 
H. Blancliard.* Dixon, L. Hitchcock.* Portland, 
William Vallette.* Stephenson, 0. N. Wager. Sa- 
vannah, P. Judson.* Galena, J. W. Whipple. Apple 
River, E. P. Wood.* Freeport, S. Pillsberry.* 

T. T. Hitt, agent for Rock River Seminary. Dr. 
Hitchcock, a member of the Oneida Conference, 
located and came among us this year. He was a 
supply at Dixon till February, 1841, and then he 
was elected agent of the Mt. Morris Seminary, and 
R. A. Blanchard supplied Dixon the remainder of 
the year. 

Burlington District, A. Sommers,"^ P. U. — Bur- 
lington, J. J. Stewart.* Mt. Pleasant, T. M. Kirk- 
patrick.* Richland mission, M. F. Shinn. Fox 
River mission, to be supplied. Philadelphia, Joel 
Arrington. Fort Madison, Moses H. M'Murtry, 
William B. Cooley. Bloomington, Nathan Jewett.* 
Crawfordsville, Joseph L. Kirkpatrick.* 

Iowa District, Bartholomew Weed, P. E. — Iowa 



WEST AND NORTH-WEST. 315 

mission, Garrett G. Worthington.* Eockingliam, 
Chester Campbell.* Camanche, Barton H. Cart- 
wright.* Marion, John Hodges.* Bellview, Phi- 
lander S. Richardson. Clarksville, Henry Hubbard. 
Dubuque, Washington Wilcox. 

Indian Mission, Benjamin T, Kavanaugh, /Su- 
perintendent — St. Peter's and Sioux mission, one to 
be supplied, David King. Chippewa mission, Henry 
J. Brace, George Copway, Henry P. Chase, Allen 
Huddleston, John Johnson. Sandy Lake, Samuel 



Platteville District, William H. Beed,^ P. E, — 
Platteville, to be supplied. Lancaster and Prairie du 
Chien, William Simpson, Alfred M. Early.* Mineral 
Point and Wiota, James G. Whitford, one to be sup- 
plied. Monroe, James Ash. Madison, to be supplied. 
Fort Winnebago, Stephen P. Keys.* Fon du Lac, 
Jesse Halstead. Green Bay, to be supplied. Oneida, 
Henry E. Coleman. 

Milwaukee District, Julius Field, ^ P. E. — 
Milwaukee, John Crummer.* Racine, Leonard F. 
Malthrop.* Root River, Henry Whitehead.* South- 
port mission, Solomon Stebbins.* Burlington and 
Rochester, D. Worthington. Troy, James M'Kean. 
Watertown, Sidney Wood. Summit, Hiram W. 
Frink.* 

Austin F. Rogers, transferred to the Illinois Con- 
ference. 

The next Conference was held at Platteville, Au- 
gust 25, 1841 



316 EARLY HISTORY OF THE 

^ Those whose names are marked with a star are 
yet living. There were three Indians laboring as 
preachers among us — George Copway, H. P. Chase, 
and John Johnson. 

Our Conference district then embraced Iowa, Wis- 
consin, and Minnesota, besides our own, the Rock 
Eiver Conference. At that time there were 71 min- 
isters stationed, and now we have 781. Its mem- 
bership then was 6,154, now 79,405. What was 
then embraced in one Conference now is ground 
enough for eight. In the place of six churches, we 
now, in seventeen years, have increased to 801. 

INCREASE UP TO 1867. 

C0NFKEENCK8. Members, Preachere. Diet. Churches. Viihie. 

Iowa 17,234 96 7 150 $251,975 

Upper Iowa 14,540 97 7 106 322,700 

Minnesota 7,193 75 7 59 174,800 

Wisconsin 10,712 130 5 132 427,050 

Rock River 18,859 171 6 180 1,447,100 

Des Moines 11,159 85 6 63 154,905 

West Wisconsin 6,932 79 5 86 161,650 

North- West Wisconsin.... 2,796 48 3 25 54,700 

Total 89,425 781 46 801 $2,994,880 



WEST AND NORTH-WEST. 317 



CHAPTER XXXV. 

The most remarkable and striking feature distin- 
guishing Illinois from the other States consists in 
her extensive prairies, covered with a luxuriant 
growth of grass, and forming excellent natural 
meadows, from which circumstance they received 
their present name, from the early French settlers. 
They extend from the western part of Indiana more 
or less to the foot of the Eocky Mountains. Illinois 
is properly called the Prairie State; as it is, gen- 
erally speaking, one vast prairie, intersected by 
strips of woods, chiefly confined to the banks and 
the valleys of the rivers. Their soil is from one to 
three feet deep; while nearly all of them possess an 
inexhaustible fertility, and but few are sterile. The 
eye sometimes surveys the green prairie without 
discovering, on the illimitable plain, a tree, bush, 
or other object save a wilderness of grass and 
flowers. The charms of a prairie consist in its ex- 
tension, its green, flowery carpet, its undulating 
surface, and the skirts of forests whereby it is sur- 
rounded. The congenial rays of the sun soon ripen 
the plentiful harvest ; and in Autumn the yellow har- 
vest is gathered into the well-filled garner. Soon 
the green-carpeted prairie is changed to deep yellow, 
as Indian Summer dries up the grass, and then 



318 EARLY HISTORY OF THE 

comes on the preparation against the flood of fire 
that sweeps over the broad surface. Of this I wish 
to give an idea, as I have seen it, run from it, and 
fought it till I could hardly stand, covered with 
sweat and dirt, and my eyes almost sightless amid 
the black clouds of smoke, to save the scanty crop 
of the settler's first year's toil, and the little cabin 
that I had preached in, in the morning of the same 
day. I will relate an incident that took place in the 
Missouri Bottom, above Boonville. A few families 
had settled on a very rich, broad bottom of prairie. 
The grass was as high as my head when on my 
horse, and so thick that it was with the utmost 
difliculty that I could ride through it. There was 
a heavy body of timber west of the settlers, and the 
fire had not passed through it for several years; 
and, of course, a great body of combustible vegeta- 
ble matter had accumulated upon the ground, to 
which the last Summer's growth had added greatly. 
One family had moved into a small house about 
midway in the prairie. One warm, dry, windy day, 
one of the girls had started to a neighbor's house, 
about two miles, on the bluff, and having proceeded 
about half way, she heard a roaring as of a mighty 
tempest; and looking west toward the timber, she 
saw the flickering blaze kindled into a fierce torrent 
of flames, which curled up and leaped along with re- 
sistless force. The air- was filled with clouds of 
crimson smoke, while the crashing sounds, like roar- 
ing cataracts, were almost deafening; danger and 



WEST AND NORTH-WEST. 319 

death filled the air. and seemed to scream for vic- 
tims. At such a fearful crisis, one becomes irreso- 
lute, and almost unable to withdraw or seek refuge. 
As there was not a moment to lose, the girl fled 
back to the old domicile. The family had thrown 
all the household goods into one pile, and covered 
them as best they could, closing the door and win- 
dow. The fire hastened in its devouring march, till 
its far-reaching flames enveloped the house, the in- 
mates being almost stifled with heat and smoke. It 
lasted, however, but for a few moments. The green, 
brown carpet had been consumed, and black destruc- 
tion sickened the heart. The inmates threw open 
the door, by which time the fire had began to blaze 
up through the cracks of the floor. They gathered 
up all the articles that they could, and threw them 
out into the yard, where the flames had consumed 
every thing, and having a well of water, saved most 
of their household goods; but the old house was 
soon in ashes, and the inmates left to do as best 
they might. Some perished in these terrific fires in 
an early day. It is said that two betrothed lovers 
perished on the banks of the Kankakee, their crisped 
forms being found near that of their horse the next 
day, by a hunter. The river flowed along to lee- 
ward of them, but the flames had outstripped their 
fleet charger, upon which both were riding, before 
they could reach the stream. Why did they not 
have the presence of mind to set a '^ back fire " or 
take refuge on the burned space? 



320 EARLY HISTORY OF THE 

Illinois seems destined, in a short time, to play a 
great part in the United States, being entitled to 
this not only by the vastness of its area — three 
hundred and seventy-eight miles from Cairo to "Wis- 
consin, from south to north, and its greatest breadth, 
two hundred and twelve miles — but, also, by the 
fertility of its easily cultivated soil, the multitude 
of its rivers, railroads, canals, coal-beds, and its 
beautiful and abundant stone quarries, its water 
powers, and the rapid increase of its population, at 
once enterprising and intelligent. May our moral 
zeal increase, and our victories multiply in behalf 
of all that is good, till God shall " make us an hund- 
red times so many more as we be!" 



WEST AND NORTH-WEST. 321 



CHAPTER XXXVI. 

The first newspaper printed in Missouri was at 
St. Louis, in 1808, by Joseph Charles. It was first 
called the Louieiana Gazette, then the Missouri 
Gazette; and in 1832, going into the possession of 
other parties, it took the name of Missouri Repub- 
lican. The census taken in 1810 gives 20,845 
inhabitants in Missouri. In 1818 St. Louis com- 
menced a greater progress in its building and com- 
mercial enterprises. During that year more than 
three millions of bricks were made, and one hundred 
buildings erected. Tlie first hrick dwelling-house 
was built in 1813 or '14, by Wm. C. Carr. The 
first steamboat that ascended the Mississippi, above 
the mouth of the Ohio, was the ''General Pike," 
which reached St. Louis the 2d of August, 1817. 
It was commanded by Capt. R. P. Guyard. The 
country above Cedar Creek, a small stream on the 
western border of Galloway county, Missouri, which 
was then regarded as the boundary of the district — 
afterward the county of St. Charles — was called 
Boone's Lick, from the time of its first settlement, 
in 1797; till the organization of the State Govern- 
ment. In 1808 there was a small village, called 
Cote Sans Dessein, from a singular oblong hill in its 

vicinity. In 1810 a few enterprising families struck 
28 



322 EARLY HISTORY OF THE 

out into the wilderness, and formed a settlement in 
what is now known as Howard county. Here were 
several large salt springs and "Licks," at one of 
which Daniel Boone had his hunting camp, and 
where his son, Major Nathan Boone, made salt as 
early as 1807. This gave name to the *'Lick," and, 
also, to a large district of counties. Boone's Lick 
settlement, at the commencement of the war with 
Great Britain, numbered about one hundred and 
fifty families. In 1815, throughout the county and 
town of St. Louis, the inhabitants numbered 9,395, 
the town population alone numbering 2,000. 

I add a few more reminiscences of Chicago. Early 
in the Spring of 1834, brother Henry Whitehead 
and Mr. Stewart contracted with Jesse Walker to 
build a small but commodious house of worship, on 
the north side of the river, on the corner of Water 
and Clark streets. Father Walker and the local 
preachers occupied it every Sabbath alternately. In 
looking over the annals of Methodism found here 
and there in books, in my own experience, and in 
the relation of the experience of others to me, it 
seems as if God had sifted the whole inhabited re- 
gion of North America, and selected the choice 
spirits therefrom, with their iron constitutions, to 
plant and cultivate the tree of Methodism in the 
West. Stevens says : '* We have often been reminded 
of the adaptation of Methodism, by some of its prov- 
idential peculiarities, for its self-propagation. Its 
class and prayer meetings train most if not all its 



WEST AND NORTH-WEST. 323 

laity to constant practical missionary labors; so that 
three or four of these, meeting in any distant part 
of the earth, by emigration, are prepared immedi- 
ately to become the nucleus of a Church. The lay 
or local ministry, borne on by the tide of emigra- 
tion, was almost every-where found prior to the ar- 
rival of the regular preacher, ready to sustain re- 
ligious services.". 

The year 1790 was not the real epoch of Method- 
ism in the United States. The sainted Barbara 
Heck, foundress of Methodism in the United States, 
went with her children, it is probable, into the prov- 
ince of Canada as early as 1774. Mrs. Heck and 
her three sons were members of a class at Augusta, 
under the leadership of Samuel, son of Philip Em- 
bury. Brother William Smith has truly said that 
there were many pious women among the early set- 
tlers who were Christian heroines in the true sense 
of the word. Having left their native State to ac- 
company their husbands to territories where was 
naught but a howling wilderness, they have proved 
themselves to be helpmeets for the men who braved 
the dangers of a frontier life. They were equally 
brave in every moral conflict in battling for the 
Lord. In singing, what have they not done in con- 
gregations? I have often sat and listened till my 
own eyes, as well as those around me, were suffused 
with tears, and especially in prayer circles, when 
the heart of some mother in Israel went out in 
irresistible pleadings with her Lord and Savior for 



324 EAELY HISTOEY OF THE 

an only cliild or an erring husband, as if every 
word were an inspiration, every utterance an imme- 
diate communication from above, tbe language of the 
heavenly host. Indeed, it has often seemed to me 
as if woman, as if the mother of the Son of God 
was nearer the throne in earnest supplications than 
man can be. And then, like the women of the Bible, 
she will take no denial. She will not cease her im- 
portunities till the unclean spirit has gone out, and 
the soul is made a fit temple for the indwelling of 
the Holy Spirit. Sometimes, after an earnest prayer, 
I have known them to arise and exhort till it seemed 
like a visible influence all over the house, as if the 
powers of darkness had yielded, saints were rejoicing, 
and heaven had come down to earth, and the whole 
congregation would be shouting "Glory to God!" 
The Presbyterian definition of true eloquence — 
namely, shouting and tears, shouting and tears — • 
may be justly applied to the women of early Metli- 
odism. But, alas! how few of them remain among 
us! I have followed one and another of them to 
their last resting-place, and, standing by their dying 
beds, have heard them testify "all is well," till 
their voices were lost in death. A few years more, 
and none of them will remain; they all will have 
passed over the swelling tide, and become inmates 
of the mansion on high. Though it may hardly 
seem in place here to mention these things, yet it 
has often seemed to me such a cruel, unjust thing 
that we have to cast so many unjust slurs upon our 



WEST AND NORTH-WEST. 325 

women. I have often thouglit of these things — tho 
use of so many foul sayings which are looked upon 
as so many witticisms — such, for instance, as the rib 
out of which mother Eve was formed, denoting her 
crooked disposition; that woman is ''all tongue," be- 
cause she is gifted in conversation; that Mary Mag- 
dalene had seven devils cast out of her, while they 
seem to forget that one of the male sex possessed a 
legion. We have good authority for that, and we 
can not estimate how many more possessed the same 
number, for Paul gives one of the most fearful epit- 
omes of man's unparalleled wickedness; and, from 
his summing up, one would think that man pos- 
sessed not only a legion, but legions. If our State 
prisons contain more men, will not heaven contain 
more women? In either case it is a fearful thing 
to believe in the loss of a soul. 



THE END. 



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